Best Buy Co. Inc. announced last week it will close 50 of its stores and eliminate 400 corporate positions. The announcement, however, did not faze some St. Thomas students who are former or current employees of the company.

Thomas Lee’s Star Tribune article reported that Best Buy, one of the major companies that students plan to work for post-graduation, made the decision due to a decrease in sales. Though the cuts mean less available jobs for students after graduation, senior Matt Scott remained optimistic.

“Best Buy will be around for a while, and UST students shouldn’t be hesitant to take a job with them if they are lucky enough for the offer,” Scott said. “All major companies are restructuring to survive the new economic and social climate. I would be more concerned if Best Buy was building a ton of stores than if they were restructuring their current model.”

When Scott worked for Best Buy, he was part of Yellow Tag Production, the company’s internal media production team. He said he loved his job because of how he was treated as an employee.

Junior Deanna Ginter, a current merchandising specialist for the company, enjoys working there for the same reason.

“The store I work at is a small community store, and it’s kind of like a family there. They’re super flexible and supportive,” Ginter said.

Ginter works at the Edina location, the first of Best Buy’s community stores.

Freshman Nick Wood also worked at the company as a personal computer and home office specialist. He said students will not feel the effects of the store closures.

“I honestly don’t think that St. Thomas students will be affected because I doubt they will close any store around here since they are doing well in sales,” Wood said.

But Minnesota stores will be closing. In fact, the community store in Edina is closing, and Ginter will be losing her job.

“They’ll be job openings at other Best Buy stores, I’m sure. It just doesn’t make sense to close Edina since it’s doing well, and it’s the first of the community stores,” Ginter said.

Best Buy Employer Relations Specialist Jennifer Rogers wanted to know what impact the store closings would have on students wanting to work there. Rogers contacted the St. Thomas Best Buy college recruiter and was told that “no offers from the Best Buy University Relations Recruiting program will be rescinded.”

“Of course, this is good news for any student that received an offer from Best Buy,” Rogers said.

According to the Star Tribune, the retailer lost $1.2 billion trying to keep up with its competitors Amazon.com Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. by heavily reducing its product’s prices. Best Buy is working to return to the original community stores to ameliorate customer service. The article also said that the company hopes the service will make consumers more inclined to shop in stores as opposed to online on Amazon.

Scott remembers talking with former co-workers about what Best Buy will look like in the future when he previously worked there.

“The days of big box stores are coming to an end fast. I imagine Best Buy is trying to stay ahead of the curve and downsize their retail stores before the market completely crashes for big box real estate,” Scott said. “Their traditional big box store is not really in the picture. Best Buy has to compete with entities like Amazon.com, which doesn’t have to pay taxes, so it’s difficult to compete in an imbalanced market.”

Geena Maharaj can be reached at maha8007@stthomas.edu.