CHICAGO (Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc is to consolidate its Canadian operations under the Best Buy brand, closing some stores but also investing $200 million in other stores and online operations in the country, the U.S. electronics retailer said on Saturday.
The company currently runs stores and websites under both the Best Buy and Future Shop brands in Canada said in moving to a single brand it has decided to close 66 of the Future Shop stores, while another 65 will be converted to the Best Buy brand.
That will leave the company with a total of 136 large-format stores and 56 Best Buy Mobile stores in the country.
As a result of the consolidation it is cutting 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time jobs.
Best Buy said it expects the changes will "negatively impact" current year earnings per share by between $0.10 and $0.20.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago; Editing by Greg Mahlich)
