More and Bigger Best Buys

An executive of Best Buy Co. (Eden Prairie, Minn.) said he expected about 240 new Best Buy stores to open over the next four years. Wade Fenn, Best Buy president of new business development and strategic alliances, told the Banc of America Securities Consumer Conference in New York that he forecasts about 60 Best Buy store openings in each of the next four years. He also said a new Toronto store next year would kick off expansion into the Canadian marketplace. He said Best Buy expects to have 15 stores in Canada next year and between 60 and 65 stores there in three years.

Fenn said the retailer is developing a new 18,000-square-foot prototype for larger markets. Best Buy's stores currently average 45,000 square feet.

He also told of Best Buy's plans to renovate the 650 Sam Goody stores it acquired when it purchased Musicland Corp. The wall spaces of the stores, previously used as a place for accessories and other merchandise, will now include graphics and higher-margin electronics items like personal stereos. Two stores have been converted; the rest are slated for fall conversions. There are no plans to change Media Play or Suncoast Motion Picture Co., two other properties involved in the Musicland acquisition.

Best Buy has over 400 stores in about 40 states, with heavy concentrations in the Midwest, Texas, California and Florida. Its Musicland Stores subsidiary operates 1300 music and video retail stores under the Sam Goody, Suncoast, On Cue and Media Play names.