Best Buy Plans China Store Closures

American electronics retailer Best Buy has announced on its official website that it will close all of its nine stores on the Chinese mainland.

The statement published by Best Buy said that the company will re-focus on the development of a profitable retail platform. With the launch of this new Chinese strategy, Best Buy will close all nine Best Buy-branded stores on the Chinese mainland. At the same time, the company will shut its regional retail headquarters in Shanghai and it will integrate its business in China into its wholly-owned subsidiary, Jiangsu Five Star Appliance Company.

The company said that Five Star Appliance will integrate and introduce Best Buy's retail advantages for its better expansion in China. Five Star Appliance plans to open 40 to 50 new stores during the 2012 fiscal year to increase the number of its stores to between 200 and 210 by the end of 2012 fiscal year.

Kal Patel, president of Best Buy Asia, said that Bust Buy will actively develop the Five Star Appliance brand to better meet the increasing demands in the Chinese retail market. Patel also said it was a hard decision to make, but the company is confident of its business strategy. The company will continue to serve the Chinese consumers by further expanding Five Star Appliance.

Three years ago, Best Buy dissolved the company's Beijing office at China World Trade Center Office Building. Zhang Zhenyi, a representative from Best Buy China at the time, said that withdrawing from the Beijing market was a result of the company's internal adjustments, and the company had no plan for opening stores in Beijing in the coming months. Best Buy opened the Beijing office in 2006 with responsibilities for choosing locations for the company's new stores and sourcing home appliances and electronics.

Best Buy entered China in 2003.