Best Buy Shrinks Big Box To 15% In New Digital-First Concept Store

July 26, 2022 by Dave Haynes

A new reduced-size Best Buy store concept opens its doors today on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC that uses a lot of digital to counteract how the footprint is just 15% of a regular Best Buy electronics location.

The store in Monroe, NC is about 5,000 sq. ft., smaller even than a lot of Apple stores and more like the old Best Buy mobile shops. Charlotte seems to be something of a test market for Best Buy, which also launched five other test stores last years, applying different concepts.

This one will have a “curated selection” of Best Buy goods – like jumbo TVs, computing devices and audio gear. But you won’t see fridges or washing machines.

The concept images – no real photos yet – show a big seven-foot LED video wall at the entry, and tiled displays along a wall. A lot of the store is about digital first, including a bank of lockers tied to apps that allow online shoppers to come on site to pick up their orders.

Like a lot of these stripped-down stores, this Best Buy will be more of a showroom. When people want to buy something, they’ll scan a QR code on the product to start Best Buy’s Just Scan It process. As with Apple stores, a staffer will go to the stock in back – out of view – and bring  out the item for  purchase.