Best Buy to Open 13 Stores with ‘Interactive Displays’

Best Buy has made a move in its strategic battle with Walmart for electronics retail dominance, planning to open 13 stores with "updated layouts" and "interactive displays."

Walmart recently began equipping its 3,500 stores with "larger," "more interactive" and "roomier" electronics displays. The goal seems to be to snag more Circuit City customers by dangling better products and resources in front of them before they migrate to the No. 1 U.S. electronics retailer, Best Buy.

Best Buy, meanwhile, knowing that Walmart is upping its electronics emphasis, has indicated that it won't enter a price battle with the biggest big-box retailer of them all. Instead it has said it will create differentiation by improving its display areas and in-store experience.

The messages coming out of Best Buy, though, are mixed at best. It recently closed several of its Magnolia stand-alone stores and took over leadership of that specialty division. That move seems juxtaposed with a goal of elevating its in-store experience.

Best Buy's latest announcement, however, seems more in sync with that goal. In fact, it seems like a logical counter-move to Walmart's electronics upgrades. In announcing plans to open 13 new U.S. stores in the next few months, it also promises "interactive displays [to] create a unique and engaging experience for customers."

It must be Walmart's move now.

The 13 new Best Buy stores include the first store in Wyoming and the second store in Alaska. Here's the full list of Best Buy Store openings:

• North Anchorage, Alaska (Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Miami Beach, Florida (August 8, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Hammond, Louisiana. (Friday, June 12, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. local time)
• Hunt Valley, Maryland (August 7, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. local time)
• Hutchinson, Minnesota (Saturday, July 11, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Bronx, New York (August 7, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Brier Creek, North Carolina (Thursday, June 11, 2009 at 6:00 p.m. local time)
• Pottstown, Pennsylvania (August 7, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Bastrop, Texas (Friday, June 12, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Laredo North, Texas (weekend of August 7, 2009 time TBD)
• Park City, Utah (Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Martinsburg, West Virginia (August 7, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)
• Casper, Wyoming (Friday, July 10, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. local time)