Best Buy has left the building.
On Wednesday, the electronics store located at #200, 760 St. Albert Trail permanently closed its doors.
The company said in an email it was unable to reach a lease agreement with the landlord of the property. The lease is set to expire in March.
Karen Speirs, senior communications manager with Best Buy, said the electronics giant also couldn’t find a “viable site alternative in St. Albert.”
Some 46 employees at the location have been given the option to retain their positions at other Best Buy stores. According to its website, there are eight Best Buys in Edmonton.
“We do not take a decision like this lightly. We consider our employees, customers, values and our overall long-term business strategy. This decision in no way reflects the abilities and hard work of the St. Albert team,” Speirs said.
She couldn’t give any details regarding lease negotiations with the landlord.
Resident Rob Beeston said he’s sad to see the electronics store close. He has shopped at the store at least once a month since Best Buy bought out Future Shop in 2001 and took over the St. Albert Trail store in 2015.
Prior to the sale of Future Shop, Beeston was in there almost every weekend.
Having worked at many electronics stores as a young adult, Beeston said he prefers to shop for electronics in person, as opposed to online.
“Certain things you really need to see or hear,” he explained. “You can’t see how good a TV’s picture is unless you’re actually there to see it, and you can’t buy a set of speakers or surround sound system without being there to hear it.”
Now that the store has closed, Beeston said he plans on travelling to the next closest Best Buy located in Edmonton.
Likewise, Maureen Marsh said she was disappointed to see Best Buy go.
“I found that they had the best price,” she said. “I found (the closure) hard to believe.”
The 19,500 square-foot space Best Buy is vacating will be claimed by Wine & Beyond, owned by parent company Alcanna Inc.
James Burns, CEO of Alcanna Inc., said the company had been searching for a location in St. Albert “for a while.”
“We’re really excited to go there – we’ve been looking for a long time to get the spot,” he explained. “We think St. Albert is a great community.”
Burns said a real estate agent managing the property reached out to his company sometime in the fall announcing the location would be available in March.
If all goes well, Wine & Beyond should be opening in early September.
The Wine & Beyond store is a $4-to $5-million investment and will hold around $2 million worth of liquor products, Burns said. Customers will have a selection of up to 14,000 different products to choose from inside the store.
Its two other locations are in Windermere and Sherwood Park.
The Gazette reached out to the realtor for the former Best Buy property, but did not receive a response by press time.
