Sony (NYSE:SNE) is shuttering all its retail outlets throughout Canada and letting go of nearly 100 employees.
The Japanese company informed staff members Thursday (January 15) at Sony Stores across the country that it would be closing the 14 outlets in the next six to eight weeks.
Sony employs about 90 people at these locations, where it sells televisions, gaming consoles, headphones and other electronics.
Three Sony Stores are sprinkled across Metro Vancouver, including one at Vancouver’s Pacific Centre and one in Burnaby’s Metropolis at Metrotown shopping centre.
Sony Canada spokesman Nowved Khan told Business In Vancouver he could not say why the stores are closing.
He said the company would be transferring its brick-and-mortar operations into an online-only presence in Canada.
Meanwhile, the company is attempting to contact former customers who’ve made purchases at the retail outlets to let inform them customer service needs can be dealt with online.
The announcement of the closures comes on the same day Target (NYSE: TGT) said it would be closing all 133 stores across Canada and cutting more than 17,000 jobs.
Target has struggled since entering Canada in 2013, losing nearly US$1 billion in its first year of operations.
CEO Brian Cornell cited poor holiday sales as one of the reasons for deciding to pull the plug on the Canadian outlets.
