Bose To Close HALF of Their Retail Stores Worldwide

Bose Corporation, a leading manufacturer of headphones and other audio equipment announced that they will be closing HALF of their retail stores worldwide due to a dramatic increase in online purchases. Although founded in Massachusetts in 1964 by Amar Bose, the first retail store was opened in 1993 in Kittery Maine.  Bose was founded on creating speaker systems which used multiple drivers aimed at the surrounding walls to reflect the sound to replicate the sound of a concert hall, it has diversified its products to include smaller portable speakers, earbuds, and the highly promoted and profitable sports, military, and consumer based sound cancelling over the ear headphones.

In 2020 you'll have to get your Bose speakers through the mail

Bose said they would close all retail stores in North America, Europe, Japan, and Australia by the end of 2020 which equated to about 120  stores, but would keep open 130 stores in India, South Korea, and China.

“Originally, our retail stores gave people a way to experience, test, and talk to us about multi-component, CD and DVD-based home entertainment systems. At the time, it was a radical idea, but we focused on what our customers needed, and where they needed it – and we’re doing the same thing now.”

- Bose vice president of global sales Colette Burke

Audioholics has always been modestly critical but carefully worded about the heavily funded litigious Bose corporation. Why do we take Bose products with a grain of salt? In 1968 Amar Bose published a paper titled "On the Design, Measurement and Evaluation of Loudspeakers." In the article he rejected numerical test data in favor of subjective evaluation. Later, in a 2007 interview, Amar stated, "There are two reasons we cut out the specifications: 1- We don’t know of any measurements that actually determine anything about a product, and 2- Measurements are phony, in general, as they are printed."  This flies in the face of the latest research in predicting loudspeaker preferences based on proper measurements conducted by Harman.

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To find out more about the pros and cons of the Bose Corporation read our article, Bose: Legitimate Audio Company or Slick Marketing?

Bose Layoffs Just the Beginning of a Trend for Single Brand Retailers?

According to the company’s annual report in the 2019 financial year, Bose Corporation received revenue of $4.0 billion and employed more than 9,000 people. How many of those people will lose their jobs due to the store’s closures will remain to be seen. However, Bose appears to be offering outplacement assistance and severance. As more and more consumers flock to internet direct sales of AV electronics, will this be a trend for other single brand brick and mortar stores in 2020?  Will Apple and Microsoft follow this path as well? Is Amazon taking over the world? Please share your comments in the related forum thread below.