Best Buy Mobile Unveils New "Mobile Life" Store

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) today announced it is launching unique, stand-alone stores in malls that aim to help customers get more from their mobile lives. The new, larger Best Buy Mobile stores will help customers navigate the wireless landscape by offering unprecedented choice of a full range of mobile devices including phones, laptops, and other handhelds as well as teaching customers how the devices work together.

“The new Best Buy Mobile stores are based on one simple idea: technology is better when it works together”

The stores target mall shoppers that don’t traditionally shop at Best Buy’s big-box stores: women and younger shoppers; so-called “tweens” and teenagers. Currently, this audience shops multiple retailers for many of their products. Through the new store format, Best Buy Mobile will simplify their shopping experience, bringing all of the products as well as the service plans and accessories needed for their mobile lifestyle under one roof.

“The new Best Buy Mobile stores are based on one simple idea: technology is better when it works together,” said Shawn Score, president of Best Buy Mobile. “Today, life happens on the go. On good days, technology helps. On bad days, the gadgets don’t work. This store is designed to help people get more from their mobile life.”

The new Best Buy Mobile store incorporates:

A specialized assortment of mobile products featuring mobile phones, ultra-portable notebook computers, mobile media devices and accessories
Knowledgeable, non-commissioned associates including Geek Squad agents
Best Buy Mobile’s Walk-Out-Working^TM program which provides multimedia and smart-phone set up
Straight-forward pricing, including no rebates
Product repairs, loaner phones, and additional services that keep the technologies up and running

At 3,000 square feet, the new Best Buy Mobile stores are double the size of the original stand-alone Best Buy Mobile stores, yet not as large as traditional Best Buy stores, which average about 40,000 square feet. The stores offer consumers impartial, informed advice in a boutique-like setting.

On tap at the new stores are “Experience Zones;” designated areas for customers to interact with the products and learn how they work with each other as well as etching machines that “tattoo” mobile devices with personalized messages and/or photos. Dedicated “kids zones” will give shoppers a nearby place to drop off the kids yet still keep an eye on them while they shop. A Geek Squad Precinct will be located within each store for all services needs.

Stores will launch in three mall locations this month:

The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN (Oct. 17)
Fair Oaks Mall, in Fairfax, Va. (Oct. 17)
Woodfield Mall, in Schaumburg, Ill. (Oct. 31)

Best Buy is uniquely positioned to help its mobile phone customers. Over the last two years, Best Buy has converted special sections of its 965 U.S. stores to Best Buy Mobile stores as well as launched more than 30 stand-alone Best Buy Mobile stores. Customers have responded positively to the new mobile phone experience. The conversion of the Best Buy Mobile store-within-a-store concept drove a strong double-digit gain in U.S. mobile phone connections during the second quarter and Best Buy also experienced a nearly triple-digit gain in comparable store sales of mobile phones and accessories.

Best Buy Mobile was created as a joint venture with leading U.K. mobile retailer The Carphone Warehouse Group (CPW) in 2006. The stores feature one of the largest selections of carriers, handsets and accessories available anywhere, as well as a highly-trained staff to help customers make the most of their mobile phones.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.

With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe, and China, Best Buy is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $40 billion annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy, Audiovisions, The Carphone Warehouse, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath Centers, The Phone House and Speakeasy. Approximately 165,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail locations, multiple call centers and Web sites, in-home solutions, product delivery and activities in our communities. Community partnership is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. In fiscal 2008, we donated a combined $31.8 million to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. For more information about Best Buy, visit www.bestbuyinc.com.

About The Carphone Warehouse Group PLC

The Carphone Warehouse is Europe's largest independent retailer of mobile phones and related services, with over 2,400 stores across nine countries. Our proposition is to offer customers impartial advice across the widest range of handsets, networks and tariffs in the market. We trade as The Carphone Warehouse in the U.K. and Ireland, and as Phone House in our other European markets. In addition, under the TalkTalk and AOL brands we are a leading provider of residential telecoms services in the U.K., with over 2.7 million broadband customers and 2.7 million voice customers. The business was founded in 1989 by CEO Charles Dunstone.