Best Buy in Carmel Mountain is closing on Feb. 28, as the company rethinks its shopping experiences and brick-and-mortar footprint.

The store, in the Courtyard at Carmel Mt. Ranch shopping center just east of Interstate 15 and north of Carmel Mountain Road, has around 45 employees, according to a layoff notice filed with the state this week.

The company decided not to renew that lease and is working to help its employees find jobs, a company spokesperson said, adding that customers can shop at other Best Buy stores, as well as at BestBuy.com or the Best Buy app. The nearest store is at 9540 Mira Mesa Blvd., six miles away. Another is in San Marcos, at 567 Grand Ave.

Best Buy has been testing smaller format stores and expects to “lean into those a bit” in 2026, Best Buy’s CEO Corie Barry said in a November call with investors.

“We do have some cohort of stores where they’re a little bit larger than what we need. And so we’ve been working on several different ways, and this, again, will move into next year, including relocations, resizing some of the existing formats,” she said.

Other new strategies include boosting interactive experience, testing in-store Ikea pilots, adding branded expert events with Breville and SharkNinja, and catering to young shoppers.

“Our youngest cohort, Gen Z, is really leaning into the store experience. We can see it in their visits, and we can see it in where they choose to interact. And we can see it in our ability to start to grow share with this cohort. And it’s a cohort who is starting to see our brand as updated, refreshed, and more relevant,” Barry said.

The company’s comparable sales in the third quarter grew 2.7% year over year. “We are pleased to report better-than-expected sales and adjusted operating income rate for the third quarter,” Barry said in November.

The Carmel Mountain store is 37,400 square feet, according to a 2024 leasing brochure for the shopping center.

“The Landlord envisions a complete facelift of the existing building to create a destination hub for the community at this high exposure corner,” the brochure says.