Sony closing 20 US Sony Store locations by end of 2014

Sony is planning to close 20 of the 31 extant Sony Store locations in the U.S. by the end of the year, the company announced today.

This restructuring of Sony's U.S. retail portfolio is part of companywide cost-cutting efforts — including a sale of its Vaio PC division and a spinoff of its television business into a separate entity — that Sony announced earlier this month. That plan calls for 5,000 layoffs worldwide by the end of Sony's 2014 fiscal year, which will conclude on March 31, 2015. Sony said today that approximately 1,000 of those individuals will be laid off by the end of 2014.

"While these moves were extremely tough, they were absolutely necessary to position us in the best possible place for future growth," said Mike Fasulo, president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics, in a press release today. "I am entirely confident in our ability to turn the business around, in achieving our preferred future, and continue building on our flawless commitment to customer loyalty through the complete entertainment experience only Sony can offer."

Prior to today's announcement, Sony had already closed six Sony Store locations across the country in the first two months of the year: Beverly Center in Los Angeles; Gallery at San Francisco Centre in San Francisco; Gallery at Park Meadows Mall in Lone Tree, Colo.; Rehoboth Tanger Outlets in Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Jersey Shore Premium Outlets in Tinton Falls, N.J.; and Riverhead Tanger Outlets in Riverhead, N.Y.

Here are the 20 other U.S. Sony Stores that will be shuttered by the end of 2014:

• Camarillo Premium Outlets, Camarillo, Calif.
• Gilroy Premium Outlets, Gilroy, Calif.
• Century City, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Las Americas Premium Outlets, San Diego, Calif.
• Valley Fair, Santa Clara, Calif.
• Cherry Creek Shopping Center, Denver, Colo.
• Town Center at Boca Raton, Boca Raton, Fla.
• Dolphin Mall, Miami, Fla.
• Chicago Premium Outlets, Aurora, Ill.
• Wrentham Village Premium Outlets, Wrentham, Mass.
• The Forum Shops at Caesars, Las Vegas, Nev.
• Menlo Park Mall, Edison, N.J.
• Woodbury Common Premium Outlets, Central Valley, N.Y.
• The Market at Comcast Center, Philadelphia, Penn.
• Galleria Dallas, Dallas, Texas
• San Marcos Prime Outlets, San Marcos, Texas
• The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, Arlington, Va.
• Tysons Corner Center, McLean, Va.
• University Village, Seattle, Wash.
• Pleasant Prairie Prime Outlets, Pleasant Prairie, Wis.

And here are the 11 U.S. Sony Stores that will remain open after 2014, along with the Sony Family Center on the Sony Pictures studio lot in Culver City, Calif., which is open only to Sony Pictures Entertainment employees:

• South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, Calif.
• Stanford Shopping Center, Palo Alto, Calif.
• Fashion Valley, San Diego, Calif.
• University Town Center, San Diego, Calif.
• Aventura Mall, Aventura, Fla.
• The Mall at Millenia, Orlando, Fla.
• Roosevelt Field, Garden City, N.Y.
• Walt Whitman, Huntington Station, N.Y.
• Sony Plaza, New York, N.Y.
• Houston Galleria, Houston, Texas
• The Americana at Brand, Glendale, Calif.