Samsung closes flagship London store
More than 50 staff are affected by the closure of the Samsung Experience store in Westfield Stratford City.
Samsung has closed its high-profile Samsung Experience store in one of Europe's biggest shopping centres.
"We regret to announce that we will be closing the Samsung Experience Store at Westfield Stratford City at the end of this year", Samsung told CNET today. Photographs posted on Twitter by visitors to the mall in London show the shop already being dismantled.
Samsung Experience stores are used by Samsung as flagship retail locations, and are often the very first place you can buy new devices like the Galaxy S4 or Galaxy S5.
London's Westfield Stratford City store employs 53 full-time and 5 part-time staff. Samsung says that "We will do our utmost, where possible, to look to find affected employees alternative employment within the business or offer a financial package should they choose to move on to find new opportunities".
Samsung adds that no other stores, including the branch at tourist retail mecca Oxford Street, are facing the axe at this time: "We remain fully committed to the operation of the remaining nine Samsung Experience Stores across the UK, and wish to reassure our customers that those stores will not be affected by this decision".
Samsung earlier this year announced plans to collaborate with high-street retail chains Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U to open a number of own-brand stores across the UK and Europe. But with profits from Samsung's mobile business plunging a stunning 74 per cent in the third quarter of the year and Phones 4U folding, the Korean company's plans may change dramatically in the coming year.