Sony Closing All Their Stores In Canada

Whoa.. what's going on here? Sony shutting down more businesses in 2015 and laying off more workers. Seems Sony once again loss billions in their current fiscal year report. An estimated $1.9 billion. Now they need to save more money by closing all their Canada Stores. They are also talking above getting rid of the HDTV business. Wow!! No more Sony TV's? Their mobile phone business may be next. Didn't know that the large Sony store at the Metreon in San Francisco had closed as well. They had the PS3 launch party there I believe. How will all of this affect Sony and the PS4 in 2015? Only time will tell.

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http://ottawacitizen.com/business/local-business/sony-announces-it-will-close-all-sony-stores-in-canada

Sony Corp. will close all 14 of its Sony Stores across Canada as the company continues to struggle to reshape its business.

The company made the announcement on Thursday in a memo to the employees of its stores — including its Ottawa location in the Bayshore Shopping Centre — telling them that the stores will cease operations within the next two months.

The company confirmed the news in a statement released to The Citizen.

“Over the next 6 to 8 weeks we are closing our Sony Stores in Canada and will redirect all of this business through our national network of Sony retailers, our online store … as well as through our Sony-trained Telesales team,” read the statement. “Our network of Sony authorized retailers offer a full range of Sony products and will be supported by our in-store Merchandisers and Product Trainers on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that our past customers have continued access to knowledgeable Sales consultants who can support their ongoing Sony electronics needs.“

The company’s news came on the same day that Target announced it would be shuttering all of its retail stores in Canada.

Sony did not say how many jobs are affected by the decision.

The closure comes as Sony is struggling to reshape its business amidst years of losses. For the current fiscal year which ends in March, the company is estimating a $1.9 billion (U.S.) loss.

Within the last year the company sold its Vaio personal computing business and spun out its TV manufacturing operations.

It is now reported to be considering exiting the TV business entirely. The company is also considering options for its lacklustre cellular phone division.
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Not really an SW topic

The stores sell Playstation systems and games, so it's relevant. The mods can move it to the Playstation forum if they don't want to keep it here.

14? Not a huge loss. Sony is ballsy for this though. Restructuring is the way to survive.

Sony may be leading the pack because of their financial woes, but I wonder if more companies are going to start closing their retail stores. There just isn't much reason to go shopping for things like electronics in a store anymore when you can order from amazon/newegg/etc.

True and these type of stores are usually selling everything at full price or more. It's probably best to let the WalMarts, Gamestops, Fry's Electronics, Best Buy and online stores sell their wares at this point. Sony can save some money for the future.

@jimmy_russell: Yeah except these consoles are selling better than the 360 and PS3. I understand doom and gloom is fun to talk about on the Internet, but the Playstation brand is very healthy right now. Sony as a whole might be in trouble, but the PS4 is not in a slump. Let's calm down and look at the facts here.

Yeah cellphone market must be a hell to be in, better leave that

Sony had a good run. But its adapt or perish and they are doing what they can to survive. The real question will be what will be left when they cut away everything that is losing money? Sony might just end up being a insurance company when all is said and done.

Sony going the way of blockbuster video

Sony is doomed!

Sony stores are always empty. They should just close all of them in NA.

Around the same time as Target announcing their ceasing Canadian operations? Thanks Harper.

Lol, so it's only 14 stores? Title makes it sound so much worse. If they only had 14 in the entire country then it wasn't much of a presence anyway.

This is great news. Sony is reconfiguring how their company works. Their old strategy was marked for death.

@bunchanumbers:

I can never see them giving up Playstation. Whatever Playstation maybe be in the future, it will be their money maker.

Personally i see them becoming a videogame hardware, vr, tv/videogame streaming company.

Goodbye Target, nice knowing ya.

Interesting. Drastic times calling for drastic measures. What does it mean for the PS4? Business as usual I expect. It's a gold mine.

PlayStation isn't their big money maker. Their big money is in insurance and banking. PlayStation would have to do something miraculous to become their big money maker. Now mind you I'm predicting that PS5 will be cloud based and on every device known to man. Its certainly possible, but they need to ditch physical consoles. Billions wasted on hardware development that is outdated a year after launch. Its just bad business. Cloud streaming is more likely their future. No worries about piracy, they control all aspects of distribution, and they control the pricing so no second hand stores undercutting their business. If they do it right it could be huge for them. If Sony does it right.

The good news for Sony just keeps piling up

This has nothing to do with System Wars.

Target just closed 133 stores in Canada. Many other American retailers are closing stores or restructuring their strategy in Canada.

It's the economy, not a Sony problem per se.

Sony has been hemorrhaging money the past several years, but the gaming division is still strong.

Because Mulcair or Trudeau would do a better job.

I've never understood the need for specific brand stores for most companies. I get that some like to pretend they their product is more than a brand and is an experience but i don't hold loyalty to one brand so i'm better off going somewhere that can offer all the different brands so i can get the best product for my money.

This related more to how bad is the Canadian economy now and the low Canadian dollar compared to the US one lots of big retail stores are leaving Canada.

nah, cows say Sony is fine. there's no way that they're wrong, again...

-yikes, pulled out of all of Canada huh Sony? oh boy...they're going to be selling ps4s out of Kaz's mom's basement soon-

I'd say this is neutral to good for sony. Getting rid of things like retail stores is exactly what you have to do. Some companies just let parasitic sectors stay on and seep cash.

@foxhound_fox:

Sounds sensible to me, brick and mortar stores and going out of style, if I was Sony I would put a showroom in a few city centres and leave it at that, don't even sell anything just show your products and direct people to purchase from their website or other retailers.

Lol, PS4 and Playstation isn't going anywhere @Blackace: This is irrelevant to system wars. Next.

Man with so many stores in Canada that are getting shut down like the Sony stores and Target, I guess trying to open new stores in Canada today would be a very bad idea.

"Not really an SW topic"

@SolidGame_basic:

Not surprising. Given PS4's continued success, haters need to pull this kind of shit to relieve the stinging oftheir anal sores.

Isnt Target closing out in Canada too?

What going on in Canada?

Let's not turn people losing their jobs into petty ownage. Not a SW topic.