A pair of corporate giants from both sides of the border have taken the first step in their plans to open 167 small-format consumer-tech stores in Canada under the Best Buy Express brand.
Best Buy, with headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota, has teamed up with Montreal-based Canadian communications giant Bell Canada to create the new consumer technology retail chain branded as Best Buy Express and recently opened its first store in Guildford Town Centre, a regional mall in Surrey, British Columbia owned by LaSalle Investment Management.
The pair plan to open the other 166 stores by the end of this year, with the small-format stores offering phones and other tech devices, as well as another 100,000 products available by order, according to a statement they issued.
"Opening 167 stores in five months may be a North American first. It's certainly bold in retail today. We're excited to see these new stores come to life as we double our store count, expanding our presence across Canada," said Ron Wilson, president of Best Buy Canada, in the statement.
Bell said it will use the stores as a platform for its phone services that include the Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile lines. Best Buy will also offer its Geek Squad services that help consumers install and deal with their gadgets.
The stores are set to be located in former outlets of The Source, a chain owned by Bell Canada that had 335 outlets across Canada until approximately 170 closed following the announcement of Bell's partnership with Best Buy in January. The new chain has not indicated which of the former Source stores will return to business under the new brand and which will not.
The Source was previously known as Radio Shack in Canada and sold electronic items in over 800 outlets in the country in the 1990s. Radio Shack rebranded as The Source in 2005 and Montreal-based Bell Canada, one of Canada's largest communications providers, purchased the chain in 2009.
Best Buy has over 900 outlets in the U.S. and another 167 in Canada according to its website.
The Source chain had outlets in Toronto and Montreal and other markets in eastern Canada that were branded La Source in Quebec.