About 1,500 Future Shop employees in Canada lost their jobs Saturday as the company publicly announced it would merge with its parent company, Best Buy Canada.
The latter acquired Future Shop in a multi-million dollar deal in 2001, operating both chains.
Best Buy Canada put out a press release on March 28 detailing that it closed 66 Future Shop stores, and temporarily closed an additional 65 stores as they transition over to the Best Buy brand.
Among stores affected by the change included three in Surrey.
The Future Shop in South Surrey at Grandview Corners (2267 160th St.) and the store at Scott Road Crossing (12048 80th Ave.) are both temporarily closed until April 4. Both stores will reopen under the Best Buy Canada brand.
The Future Shop located at Central City Shopping Centre (10153 King George Blvd.) remains permanently closed, while the existing Best Buy around the same location stayed open.
In all, the company will now have a total of 192 locations across Canada, including 136 large-format stores and 56 Best Buy Mobile stores, the release said.
“Currently, 80 per cent of our customers are within a 15 minute drive to a store and this won’t change,†said Ron Wilson, President and COO of Best Buy Canada, in a release.
“We will continue to have a strong store presence in all major markets in Canada.â€
Elliott Chun, the public relations spokesperson for Best Buy Canada, confirmed that the approximately 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time employees affected by the merge would get a severance, employee assistance and help finding new work.
He also said there would be a $200 million capital spending investment into Best Buy in the next two years to improve customer service, website services and more.