Best Buy at the Berkshire Mall will close.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Best Buy at the Berkshire Mall will close at the end of October.

 

The retail company informed employees on Sunday that it will not renew the lease for the location, which will leave 63 employees jobless.

 

"The location lease was up for renewal and we made the business decision not to renew," said Best Buy Spokeswoman Carly Charlson on Monday morning.

 

Charlson said the company opts to close stores generally based on increasing lease costs, low sales or the strength of the retail center the store is located in. Charlson didn't specify what factors led to this particular store's decision.

 

"We don't take decisions like this lightly," Charlson said.

 

The Berkshire Mall location, which opened in August of 2002, employed 28 full-time employees and 35 part-timers. Charlson said employees will have an option to be hired at other stores such as ones in Albany or Holyoke and others will be eligible for severance packages. The store's last day will be on Oct. 31 and it hasn't been determined if there will be a close out sale or if the inventory will be moved to another store.

 

Charlson said there are no plans right now to open another location in the Berkshires.

 

The company closes or moves stores on an ongoing basis; in addition to the Berkshire Mall location, the store in Hadley is also slated to close. Customers can now either go to the other stores or receive service online. The closest stores to the Berkshires are in Holyoke as well as in Albany, N.Y., at Crossgates Mall.

 

The Lanesborough location was spared from closing just three years ago when the company closed some 50 stores nationally. The store is one of the largest in the Berkshire Mall so its closure leaves a hole. Representatives from the Berkshire Mall have not yet returned a request for comment about the store's impact on the mall.