SHORT WAVES.(Best Buy Company Inc. to open new stores, Sharp Corp. earnings, Casio Inc.'s new digital camera)

HFN: The Weekly Newspaper for the Home Furnishing Network, February, 2005

BEST BUY CO. announced last week that it expects to open 73 new stores in the United States and Canada during its 2006 fiscal year beginning Feb. 27, 2005. The big-box consumer electronics retailer will open 60 new domestic stores and 13 in Canada. Roughly half of the domestic stores will be 30,000 square feet, while the remainder will be divided between the 20,000- and 45,000-square-foot formats. The majority of the new domestic stores will be opened in regions where Best Buy has an existing presence. The retailer will also relocate nine of its stores during the fiscal year. All of the new Best Buy stores will fit within the retailer's new customer-centricity model. Best Buy expects the store expansion to result in 8,700 new retail management, sales and service jobs...