Has anyone heard anything about more corporate stores closing ?
4 replies (most recent on top)
More going to dealer than closing.
We are just as busy as always with one exception......lack of inventory. We have no devices that are on promotions, at all. We have outdated iphones and that's about it. This lack of inventory has been going on for several months now. Our days are numbered, we all know that. It was a good ride while it lasted.
if anyone knew it would be ARSMs & DOS'. There will be more closures before end of year. The 2020 prophecy is still underway. We all thought our store (always dead) would be one of first to go. There was rumored reduced hours which didn't happen either. Now we're in limbo and we each see maybe 1 or 2 guests per day. Typical upgrade or escalation about an online internet that managers try and flip. Our RSM was clearly demoted from L3 to L1. they never know anything operational or even with sales. Our store seems to be running fumes and an empty tank.
Leadership is keeping the info very close to their vests. But pay attention to which locations are able to hire for vacancies and which are not. Look at locations that are still on reduced hours due to staffing when they have other stores nearby that are on normal hours. Most of the decisions to turn over to agents/close were made late last year or early this year and COVID just delayed things. ARSMs and leadership are already quietly ignoring the locations that are going to go.
Bottom line, if you are a focus store your days are numbered and you are gone in the not too distant future. Regular stores will be after that and etc. Some locations may not have agents interested in taking them on and so there will be arm twisting (if you want this store you need to take that one too) or re-negotiations on leases etc before they try to just outright close a location. They already picked the low hanging fruit by closing stores that never reopened.
You can probably expect to hear something towards end of month if your location is in the next wave.