Bose closes all stores in Europe and North America

Bose is going to close half of its stores worldwide: a complete retreat from Europe, North America, Japan and Australia leaves only stores in four Asian countries. The specialist in audio equipment says too many people have switched to buying its products online.

Against the trend

Bose is planning to close 119 physical stores, The Verge writes: that includes all the stores the brand has in Europe, the United States, Japan and Australia and involves the loss of a few hundred jobs. The 130 stores in China, India, the United Arab Emirates en South-Korea remain open, as more people still buy the Bose products in its flagship stores, the brand claims.

In doing this, Bose completely bucks the trend that major brands combine flagship stores, dealers and online sales. “Originally, our retail stores gave people a way to experience, test, and talk to us about multi-component, CD and DVD-based home entertainment systems”, said vice-president of global sales Colette Burke. “At the time, it was a radical idea, but we focused on what our customers needed, and where they needed it — and we’re doing the same thing now”, The Verge quotes Burke.

Bose’s products are sold in the brand’s own flagship stores and web shop, but also through a lot of dealers. The latter are not affected by this decision.