Best Buy Canada introduced its first Best Buy Business Centres over the weekend as a ‘store-within-a-store’ at its Best Buy location at the CF Markville in Markham. The dedicated 800 square foot space inside the store is designed to provide businesses the opportunity to discover, demo and buy technology with expert support. Customers can meet one-on-one with a Best Buy business advisor or account manager, test commercial-grade technology that isn’t available in the regular stores, and get help with planning, procurement and deployment. Geek Squad supports the solutions, with services that range from AV installation to device lifecycle management. The pilot program begins at the Markham location and a second 1500 square foot store-in-store opens at the Best Buy at Heartland Town Centre at 6075 Mavis Rd. in Mississauga in November. “We see a need in the Canadian market,” a Best Buy spokesperson explained. “Enterprises have large resellers, managed service providers and manufacturers working with them directly, while small and mid-sized businesses are often left to figure things out on their own. A physical space lets them see, test and talk it through with an expert before they commit. We already have the store footprint, so a store within a store is the fastest way to deliver that”. The instore facilities feature interactive demonstrations and commercial-grade products from brands including Apple, HP, Lenovo, Jabra, Square and Xerox. Offerings include business laptops, printers, digital signage, interactive displays, networking equipment, conference room technology, etc. “At this time, we are not looking at standalone Business Centres and will look to leverage our points of presence across the country, as we know businesses come to our stores daily for their tech needs,” the spokesperson added. “However, we know that these pilots will give us a lot of information and how we expand and in what format will develop as we learn more.”
Best Buy Canada Ltd., Suite #102, 425 West 6th Ave., Vancouver, British Columbia V5Y 1L3 (www.bestbuy.ca)