Pretty dramatic shift…looks like they are feeling the pressure from lower cost competition 
In other parts of the world, Bose stores will remain open, including approximately 130 stores located in Greater China and the United Arab Emirates; and additional stores in India, Southeast Asia, and South Korea.
Huh. I’ve never been to a Bose store. I didn’t even realize they had this many.
Buy Other Sound Equipment
Wow they must be feeling it hard
Bose is total garbage. I had a Soundlink Mini v1 with software that self destructs once the battery level is below a certain percentage. So if you don’t keep it charged above a certain %, it’s pretty much paper weight. I’ve tried replacement batteries too. They wanted 80$ to “fix” it. Not sure why they designed it that way, maybe to protect the battery?
My soundlink mini had terrible connection issues. It didn’t matter what the battery percent was at. Of course the Bose support team couldn’t help me…
They offered to fix it for 80$ and then said I can submit a claim for 40$ back… just FYI if you wanna get yours fixed they have the “rebate” option
I have a soundlink mini which I got from colleagues long ago .
Never had any issues.
Good sound, solid speaker, though expensive! 
The only weird thing is,
when not using for a while, it need to be plugged to a charger to
“wake it up”.
But this is known.
What is known also, is the horrible quality of the support.
You only really need 1 type of shop - for shoes. You also pretty much only need 2 pairs of shoes, 1 for summer and 1 for winter.
Not sure why you need a shop for headphones, they fit every shape head.
I got a pair which is great for summer and winter!
I think people today have different priorities when it comes to sound and listening habits have changed massively.
Due to this I think people don’t see the benefit in spending large amounts of money on audio when cheaper equipment “will do”
I look back at my years in retail with fond memories but sad that most of the high end audio manufacturers have shrunk or disappeared completely.
Ja Paul.
there were many high quality manufacturers who lost quality over the last years but still keep their extraordinary prices.
The BOSE soundlink mini I have is really great, solid, perfect sound, but comparing it to my soundcores its NOT worth the price and I have mentioned it, from that what I read their support should not be called “support”.
And It could be, the quality of their products has lost over the last few years now.
Mine is about 6 years old now. Good speaker, honestly, never had any problems.
Hey Franz
Thats correct, some are still expensive but not so good.
I loved selling audio especially to the customers where money was no object.
I would say to them “as the price doubles, the quality increase gets less”
The quality is still out there for those that are prepared to pay for it and appreciate the difference.
Lets take a view to high class stereo equipment.
Think we find a logarithmic curve there :
There is not more difference in quality (mostly sound) if you got one for 5000 Euros and 10,000 Euros.
Thats a little bit excessive, I know, but more or less its true.
(My old stereo was ca 3000 DM in 1972, a real fortune, but all is fine in 2020 : Thorens, Braun, Revox & Akai)
You will never hear any difference if I play a 5000 or 10.000 equipment, as the human ears can not judge.
(But if I TELL you : you MUST hear a difference, you WILL a difference. hehehe!)
Cat’s ears are much better than humans
But they usually go for mice and not for speakers. 
sometimes underestimating lower price item is not good as well
My Sennheiser PX100ii will beat any bose headphone on sound quality any day
Cost $60 for Senn vs $XXX for bose
of course Senn is open airs, wired, no noise cancellation, etc but a pure bliss to hear
Not incorrect but not what Bose said. They said people happy to buy online so why bother paying people and rent for shops.
I agree Bose is expensive.
Yesterday I ordered online an item, having watched some youtube reviews and will collect it from an Amazonlocker. The idea of traveling to a shop to check it out and buy it there feels quite an old idea.
Do you order your food online? Sounds really expensive
Retail space is expensive.
I’d be interested to know the cost to a manufacturer for returns, QA staff to review returned product, repackaging and the discount to sell returned items.
I get 90% of my stuff online but for personal taste items such as TV and audio i go to a store to view/listen.
I have food deliveries, have done for years.
Still need to pop to a local store for unplanned things or if we run out mid week.
It cut our food bill by a third and in the time we save not going shopping (while we are waiting for the delivery) we do the housework, so it frees up our time too.
