e-Readers in Canada have poor retail visibility and you would be very hard-pressed to find anything but the odd Kobo. This is a stark contrast to the large selection found in the US or United Kingdom. Buying an e-reader in Canada just got more difficult with the announcement that 66 Future Shop stores will be closing and 65 will be converted to Best Buy. As a result of this consolidation, approximately 500 full-time and 1,000 part-time positions will be eliminated.
20% of all Canadians live in rural areas without a major bookstore and an electronics shop. Chapters/Indigo have been closing down locations and with Future Shop axing 65 locations, it will be difficult for Canadians to buy an e-reader on a retail level.
This is a blow to smaller companies that depended on Future Shop for distribution such as Aluratek and the Boogieboard writing tablet. Likely Kobo will also see diminished revenue because of this situation but Amazon is unaffected, because they sell their e-readers online.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.