Good, Better, Best Buy

Best Buy Co. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) has reported a 26 percent sales increase for its fiscal fourth quarter. It attributed the acquisitions of Musicland Stores Corp. (Minnetonka, Minn.) in January and Magnolia Hi-Fi Inc. (Kent, Wash.) in December 2000 to the sales increase. Best Buy's own stores saw a 1.8 percent sales increase for the period.

The announcement came shortly after rival Circuit City Stores Inc. (Richmond, Va.) reported a 20 percent decline in comparable-store sales during the first half of the fiscal year and accompanying staff cutbacks.

Analysts believe Circuit City has been struggling ever since its decision to quit selling appliances last summer. Appliance sales dropped for Best Buy, as well, along with sales of computers. But consumer-electronics products, led by digital cameras, camcorders and video players, have been the driving force in sales.