page_title: Best Buy
section_title: Business operations
hierarchical_section_title: Best Buy / Corporate affairs / Business operations
caption_attribution_description: English: Salesperson at Best Buy demonstrating Apple iPad
context_page_description: Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. It was originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music. In 1983, it was re-branded under its current name with an emphasis placed on consumer electronics.
  Best Buy operates internationally in Canada and Mexico, and formerly operated in China until February 2011. The company also operated in Europe until 2012. Its subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. Best Buy also operates the Best Buy Mobile and Insignia brands in North America, plus Five Star in China. Best Buy sells cellular phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint Corporation in the United States. In Canada, carriers include Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility, their fighter brands, and competing smaller carriers, such as SaskTel.
context_section_description: Best Buy sells consumer electronics and a variety of related merchandise, including software, video games, music, mobile phones, digital cameras, car stereos, and video cameras, in addition to home appliances (washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators), in a non-commissioned sales environment. Under the Geek Squad brand, Best Buy offers computer repair, warranty service, and accidental service plans. Best Buy provides an online community forum for members, where consumers can discuss product experiences, ask questions and get answers from other members or retail product experts.
  The building exteriors of Best Buy-branded stores are typically light brown, with the entrance designed to look like a blue box emerging from the structure. Corporate employees operated under a results only work environment from 2005 until March 2013, when the management style was abandoned by Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly.
  As of October 29, 2016, Best Buy operated 1,026 Best Buy, 331 Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores, and 28 stand-alone Pacific Sales stores in the US. Best Buy also operated: 135 Best Buy and 53 Best Buy Mobile stand-alone stores in Canada; and 18 Best Buy stores and 5 Best Buy Express stores in Mexico. Best Buy exited the European market in April 2013.
caption: Salesman demonstrating the Apple iPad 2 (June 2011)
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