Best Buy opens in San Diego - electronics store - Brief Article

Discount Store News, Dec 13, 1999 by Robert Scally

Now offers automatic rebates, broadband Web products

SAN DIEGO -- Best Buy has advanced on yet another new market with the opening on Nov. 19 of its first two stores in San Diego County.

Following the pattern of its move into the San Francisco Bay area, Best Buy plans to have as many as seven stores in the county by 2001. The company plans to open three more stores in San Diego County in 2000 and two stores in 2001, president and coo Brad Anderson told DSN.

Geographically, San Diego is at the farthest edge of the nation and can be hard to serve logistically. The market is highly competitive, and the local economy is booming, causing good retail locations to become scarce, Anderson said.

Best Buy's entry into San Diego County, which has 2.5 million residents and encompasses more than 4,000 square miles, is significant because it is one of the last major competitive markets in California where the chain didn't already have a presence.

In the Bay Area, Best Buy opened seven stores on Aug. 20 and announced plans to have 16 stores in the market by holiday 2000. Currently, Best Buy has 25 stores in the L.A. market.

The new San Diego County stores are located in Oceanside in coastal North San Diego County and in the Mission Valley area of the city of San Diego. Next year, Best Buy will build two stores in inland north San Diego County, Anderson said.

Best Buy faces competition in San Diego County from Tweeter division Dow Stereo, Circuit City and The Good Guys.

"I still think with as much change as there's been in the business that we're still pretty differentiated," Anderson said.

Both of the new San Diego stores are 45,000-sq.-ft. versions of what Best Buy is calling the Concept 4.5 prototype, the modified version of its Concept 4 format that appeared late in 1998.

With the addition of the San Diego locations, Best Buy has a total of 354 stores in 37 states.

Best Buy plans to open approximately 300 new stores in the next five to seven years. Its next major area of expansion is the New York metropolitan area, with about 10 stores slated to open in that market in 2000.

On Thanksgiving weekend, Best Buy became the first major retailer to automate its consumer rebate programs. Under the new system, rebate forms are printed at the cash register when a product is being purchased and are then handed to the customer along with their receipt.

Best Buy has also launched in all of its stores its in-store configure-to-order computer kiosks that enable customers to buy computers more easily. The system, developed by Calico Commerce of San Jose, Calif., helps guide consumers through the process of configuring a computer while gently making selling suggestions.

Best Buy recently became the first nationwide retailer to offer broadband Internet satellite products and services.

The DirecPC service offered by Hughes Network Systems is delivered through a system consisting of an external satellite modem and a 21-in, elliptical satellite dish antenna. The system has several options and has a starting price of $149.