BRIEF: Best Buy announces 50 store closings, including Rochester store 

BRIEF: Best Buy announces 50 store closings, including Rochester store

RICHFIELD, Apr 14, 2012 (Menafn - Austin Daily Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Best Buy on Saturday announced the locations of 50 stores that it is closing this year, including seven in California, six in Illinois and six in the company's home state of Minnesota such as the Rochester South store.

The Best Buy at 4540 Maine Ave. SE in Rochester will permanently close May 12.

The struggling electronics chain said last month that it would close some of its so-called big box stores, cut

400 corporate jobs and trim 800 million in costs. Best Buy plans to open 100 smaller, more profitable Best Buy Mobile stores.

The company is trying to avoid the fate of Circuit City, which went out of business in 2009. It faces slower sales of expensive items like TVs, plus increased competition from Amazon.com and discount stores like Target.

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