Best Buy remains mum about Medford store plans

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I heard a rumor that Best Buy is going to open a Medford store in the former G.I. Joe's at Poplar Square site. Is that true? I think I read somewhere that Best Buy is determined to open a store in Medford this year.

— Charlie O., Medford

Hard to say for sure, Charlie, because the Richfield, Minn.-based home electronics retailer has a policy not to comment on possible store locations. But the Minnesota-nice spokespeople sure are polite when they decline to comment.

The way the year is winding down, though, it seems unlikely that you'll be able to do your Christmas shopping at a local Best Buy store. (And catching your holiday dollars would certainly be the company's goal if it were opening a store here this year.)

During fiscal 2010, which ends at the end of February, Best Buy planned to open about 65 new stores in the U.S., Europe, Canada, China, Mexico and Turkey, the annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this year said.

Between 40 and 50 new stores were expected to open in the U.S, with most of them in markets where the company already has stores, enabling it to leverage infrastructure and make shopping more convenient for customers.

Best Buy's latest quarterly report indicates that 22 new stores opened in the U.S. and 34 opened internationally in the company's second fiscal quarter, which ended Aug. 29.

To the Since You Asked business and finance research team, second string, tasked with finding an answer for you, Charlie, it looks like the company already has opened the bulk of its new stores for this year. That means Medford probably will have to wait a bit longer for the Geek Squad, Best Buy's technical support and installation crew, to arrive.

Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to youasked@mailtribune.com. We're sorry, but the volume of questions received prevents us from answering all of them.

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