百思买缩小门店规模，押注小型门店与AI转型

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is opening a series of small and medium format stores this summer, starting with two this week, one in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the other in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The company is reevaluating its store presence after years of slumping sales and declining stock performance post Covid. The company's first fiscal 2027 quarter outperformed Wall Street expectations, but it followed years of declines like in its fiscal 2026 third quarter, when net income dropped more than $130 million, for example.

The retailer has also been impacted by tariffs and the soaring price of memory chips, which is raising costs for some electronics. This new chapter will be one of the first tests for incoming CEO Jason Bonfig. He's been with the company for nearly three decades and will replace current leader Corie Barry in October. Barry took the helm in 2019, and she led the retailer through the pandemic, high inflation and the onslaught of President Trump's high tariffs in his first and second terms.

But now the company wants to get back to meaningful sales growth and capitalize on the AI boom. New leadership is part of that. In an exclusive interview. I spoke with Bonfig earlier this week about his plans for the company's growth. Cory and I are partnering in using this transition as an opportunity to accelerate even faster and drive the strategy that's built on top of the strategy that we've had for the last number of years.

This new strategy includes four key pillars: advancing Best Buy as a retail and technology company, improving the company's reach, enhancing the customer experience, and focusing on being a human powered company. Bonfig told me that the new, smaller format stores tap into pillar number two. The smallest stores will range from 12,000 to 15,000ft², while its medium format ones will range from 20,000 to 25,000ft². Some of its largest stores, like its flagship in New York City, exceed 40,000ft², but the company is switching things up.

There are markets that we just can't be in with a traditional size Best Buy store, but they're markets that absolutely make sense for Best Buy from a reach perspective. Bonfig told me the company expects this will change consumer spending patterns. Shoppers will typically go there in person, but then continue on to use the app and its digital channels as well. And as the company invests in new products like meta AI glasses, more customers will be able to test them out in person.

Best Buy also has an AI tool for customers to use for shopping and partnerships with OpenAI and Google. It's taking its agentic commerce seriously. And this all helps orient the company toward pillar number three, enhancing the customer experience. But Bonfig told me success will all come down to the customer response. Best Buy knows me better than anybody else. Best buy knows me as a customer. They understand exactly what I need.

I'd love to see themes where customers start to say things like that, because it means that the things that truly differentiates Best Buy are landing with the customer. Going small isn't unique to just Best Buy. It's a trend we're seeing with major companies Macy's, target, and Ikea. All these retailers are looking for fresh ways to connect with their customers. But it remains to be seen whether that bet will pay off.