Gateway flees Canada, scales back in Europe

Gateway is shutting down all 10 Canadian outlets with the loss of 220 employees after just nine months as a retailer in the country.
And local retailers are crowing, judging from this report in The Globe and Mail. "For other Canadian companies . . . it shows that a US retailer coming into Canada is not a slam dunk," one said.

Gateway will continue to sell PCs in Canada by phone, over the Web and through resellers. Question is, will it do with its retail stores in Europe? According to Microscope, the PC maker is already back scaling back in EMEA, withe loss of 200 jobs. The company is also said to be mulling its departure from countries where it has an insignificant presence (so that would mean the UK and Ireland are safe then).

Gateway is also phasing out its US ISP, Gateway.net. This will cease operations in July, but the company recommends people switch over to AOL instead. AOL is the backbone provider for Gateway.net so there shouldn't really be too much pain for customers making the switch. ®