Best Buy to Lay Off 600 Geek Squad Workers – Is Kennewick Included?

Less than three months after releasing a list of some 50 stores it will be closing,  Best Buy has announced 600 Geek Squad (computer team) workers will be let go.

The retail chain is trying to avoid the fate of Circuit City that found itself squeezed by the growth of online shopping and cheaper competition such as Walmart, which began to aggressively peddle digital and electronic products. Best Buy plans to close some 50 stores and open smaller stores that specifically target products people have been buying online. It will also have services not offered by online retail sites like Amazon.com.

Now comes news that some 600 Geek Squad team members will be let go. The Geek Squad is Best Buy's IT team. The Wall Street Journal reports that an additional 1,800 permanent layoffs are planned across the country. These cut backs will amount to about 3 percent of the total Best Buy workforce. While the 'official' list of store closures includes only one store in Washington (not Tri-Cities), no word was given if the Kennewick store on Canal Drive will see any job losses.