Best Buy closure set for Oct. 30
Oct. 21—PLATTSBURGH — It's not goodbye, it's see you around.
Those are the words of a sign sitting in Champlain Centre's Best Buy electronics store vestibule.
The Town of Plattsburgh location, an anchor store at the mall since 2006, will permanently close Saturday, Oct. 30.
The nearest brick and mortar Best Buy will then be in Williston, Vt., an hour-plus drive from Plattsburgh.
MOVE ONLINE
Inventory at the Plattsburgh store has dwindled in recent weeks and, as of Wednesday afternoon, shelves were mostly vacant and its entrance to the greater mall was closed.
According to a late February USA Today report, the electronics retailer closed approximately 20 locations in both 2019 and 2020, and was expected to close "more stores than usual" in 2021.
CEO Corie Barry told USA Today that the company's online sales boomed during the COVID pandemic, but said more and more customers were avoiding brick and mortars.
The chain laid off 5,000 full-time store workers, replacing them with thousands of part-time workers, in February 2021 alone.
EVADED CLOSURE
As previously reported by the Press-Republican, Champlain Centre's Best Buy evaded closure in 2012 when the corporation announced 50 stores would close that year.
Closures then were somewhat related to internet competition from sites like Amazon.com.
In April 2021, Best Buy had 1,450 locations nationwide. Its website now lists "more than 1,000 stores and about 100,000 employees in the United States and Canada."
Officials from Best Buy, Pyramid Management Group and Champlain Centre all declined comment.
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