Bose Closing All Retail Stores In North America

FRAMINGHAM (CBS) – Framingham-based Bose says it is closing all 119 of its retail stores in North America, Europe, Japan and Australia over the next few months. The audio equipment company cited "the dramatic shift to online shopping" in its announcement.

Bose opened its first U.S. store in 1993. These days, the company says its products "are increasingly purchased through e-commerce."

"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 Bose vice president of global sales Colette Burke said 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."

There are currently Bose stores at the Wrentham Outlets, the Burlington Mall and the Merrimack Outlets in New Hampshire.

Bose isn't saying how many employees will be impacted by the closures, but the company is offering outplacement assistance and severance.

Bose is keeping about 130 stores open in Asia and the Middle East.