Nokia's head office in Espoo, Finland
Nokia shoppers in Shanghai, China, will have to buy the company’s mobile devices at retailers and mobile carriers, now that Nokia has closed what it had deemed its largest store in the world, in an effort to save costs.
China’s retailers and mobile carriers will now sell Nokia’s feature phones and smartphones.
“Nokia is focusing on growing its presence in operator and third-party retail outlets, rather than through our own physical stores,” Nokia spokesperson Brett Young told ZDNet.
“We are, of course, also continuously beefing up our online presence. With this in mind, our store in Shanghai was closed on 31 March.”
Helsinki, Finland, is now the only remaining city with a Nokia flagship outlet.
A sign on the Shanghai flagship store’s closed door has informed customers the shop had closed because of internal restructuring and directed them to a Nokia Experience centre instead.
The shop’s closure follows Nokia’s announcement in January that it is cutting 300 jobs to increase operational efficiency and reduce operating costs.
