Strong Performance Fuels Growth Plans for Best Buy

Best Buy is targeting 3 percent to 5 percent square footage growth for the next fiscal year ending Feb. 26, 2011. To make that happen, the Minneapolis-based chain forecasts the opening of 50 to 55 (net) Best Buy branded large format stores, primarily in the U.S.; 75 to 100 small-format stores, primarily Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores in the U.S. and 10 to 15 Five Star stores in China.

The growth plans were outlined during Best Buy’s fiscal 2010 fourth quarter earnings call this week. Final quarter net earnings reached $779 million compared with $570 million for the previous year. Total fiscal 2010 revenues jumped 10 percent year-over-year to reach $49.7 billion. That figure was helped along by a 20 percent hike in online sales (totaling nearly $2 billion), a 3 percent increase in comparable store sales and an estimated 240-basis point rise in domestic market share.