Last month, Bell announced it would be re-branding its 165 The Source locations to ‘Best Buy Express’.
“By combining Canada’s award-winning mobility and Internet from Bell, and converting The Source’s extensive retail footprint to Best Buy’s leading consumer electronics experience, we’re giving customers the best of all worlds for tech and telecommunications retail in Canada,” said Bell at the time in a statement.
But things aren’t all rosy as part of the transition. iPhone in Canada has learned the headquarters of The Source, located in Barrie, Ontario, is set to shut down, and jobs eliminated.
A Bell spokesperson confirmed to iPhone in Canada the headquarters of The Source is indeed closing.
“We’re transitioning 165 The Source stores to Best Buy Express with the remainder closing in 2024,” said the Bell spokesperson. “As part of this transition, Bell is winding down operations at The Source headquarters in Barrie, which is happening in phases over the next several months.” Bell did not confirm exact numbers of jobs being cut.
The Source has 300 locations right now and 165 of these will turn into Best Buy Express. The rest will close, alongside The Source headquarters located at 279 Bayview Drive in Barrie.
Since its beginnings in 1986 under the Radioshack brand, the latter was one of the places to go for consumer electronics. The transition to The Source by Circuit City took place in 2005, with ‘by Circuit City’ dropped after the latter’s parent company, InterTAN, filed for bankruptcy.
Bell acquired The Source in 2009, which at the time had 750 stores across Canada. With the end of The Source, it reminds Canadians of other electronics chains that bit the dust, such as Future Shop and A&B Sound.
Despite the upcoming store closures, The Source still has 38 job postings seeking retail staff at various locations nationwide.
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I remember going into a “The Source” store looking for something. The employee there was solely interested in selling me Bell mobile services, and didn’t help me with what I came in there for. I was ignored at the point where I said I didn’t want to sign up with Bell. In the years since, I have spent absolutely nothing at “The Source”. Not everyone who walks into a store has the “sudden need” to switch wireless providers.
Its not their fault, there were pressured everyday to sell Bell services, otherwise their base commission was cut.
So? Try to sell the Bell services and if the customer isn’t interested, still help them out with whatever they want to buy. Especially since I was pretty much only one of two customers in the store. Regardless of whose fault it is, I didn’t buy anything from there, ever again.
OK why would I pay for gas or bus fare to pay more money than Amazon Prime!!!
I prefer to shop local if the price isn’t too much more. Why? Bought a 4K HDTV from the Source. Get it home and as I’m unpacking I find the screen has a big area smashed in. Take it back and get a replacement within an hour, no questions asked. Every time I’ve had a problem with something I bought from Amazon I get a massive run around starting with “If we refunded you 20% would you get it repaired?”
just a little historical item on the history of Radio Shack in Canada…. the US parent company Tandy had directly operated stores in Canada from the early 70’s until 1986 which is when they spun off the Canadian stores as InterTAN Canada
unrelated … I’m old AF and the RadioShack catalog was my version of the Sears Christmas Wish catalog as a kid at Christmastime 🙂