Nokia Closing Flagship Stores in U.S.

Nokia is closing it's two flagship stores in the U.S.

Nokia, the world's largest manufacturer of mobile handsets, announced today that it is re-organizing its retail network, and will close two of its flagship stores here in North America: Chicago and New York. In addition, Nokia is closing its flagship store in London, and plans to relocate the store currently residing in Sao Paolo.

According to the company, over 90-percent of consumer purchases are made through wireless carriers. Nokia also indicated that it plans to take advantage of its expanding retail partner network, namely Amazon and Best Buy (to name a few), thus prompting the company to focus on this strategy and close the two North American shops.

"Nokia Flagship Stores are only one aspect of Nokia’s retail experience and marketplace strategy, which includes more than 1,000 Nokia branded retail stores and their more than 650,000 retail outlets globally," the company said. "All of these remain essential to Nokia’s ongoing success and continue to be the main sales channels in the future."

CNET adds to the report, saying that it's no surprise that Nokia is shutting down the stores, as the United States is one of Nokia's weakest markets. Currently Nokia dominates the worldwide cell phone market with an estimated 37-percent market share, however its market share number in the U.S. is in the "single digits."