Bose Is Closing All of Its North American Retail Stores

No surprise, online shopping is the culprit

Bose
The audio brand Bose is closing 119 stores globally
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The audio brand Bose announced last week it was closing all of its 119 store locations across North America, Europe, Australia and Japan.

No surprise, you can blame the “dramatic shift to online shopping.”

“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,” said Colette Burke, Bose’s vice president of global sales, in a statement. “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 opened its first store in 1993. It plans to continue operating about 130 stores in China, India and a few other Middle Eastern and Asian countries, and will continue to sell its headphones, smart glasses, speakers through online retailers and Bose’s own site.

Bose Wireless Headphones Sale

It’s a sad day — yours truly has used Bose’s QuietComfort headphones for years. It’s still the ideal noise-cancelling headphone for plane trips.

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