Best Buy, the largest consumer electronic retailer in the country, is unveiling a plan to create music centers in dozens of outlets nationwide. This move, already in effect in California, Illinois, and Minnesota, will outfit 85 stores with over 1,000 different products ranging from drums to turntables to guitar picks. "We're trying to create an authentic and genuine musical instrument store look and feel inside of Best Buy," says Best Buy VP of musical instruments Kevin Balon. The "store within a store" locations are aimed at all consumers, from amateurs to professionals.
Not only does the announcement leave Best Buy poised to become the second-largest instrument seller in the U.S., it also comes on the heels of the company's decisions to reintroduce vinyl to its music racks (TMT News) and to start selling albums from local and unsigned musicians (TMT News). If you've begin to suspect that Best Buy corporate leadership is overrun by music nerds, you may just be right: according to the Star Tribune, Best Buy's CEO, Brad Anderson, attributed the vinyl decision to the fact that "we've got an executive here who's basically responding to his own children" and added that he, "as an old vinyl collector," saw that decision as "close to his] heart." With the local music and instrument announcements following on the heels of this quote, it seems Best Buy may continue to test the indie culture waters. What's next, a record label? A Best Buy-curated [ATP? An acquisition of Tiny Mix Tapes? Stay tuned.
