Sony is closing down 20 of its stores across the U.S.

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 company wide cost-cutting efforts 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.