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Best Buy: Another retailer copying Apple

July 6, 2012

Best Buy Co. is hoping to channel a bit of Apple's success by copying its design, according to the The Wall Street journal, which featured a photo of Best Buy's new test store featuring a Solution Central help desk that resembled Apple's Genius Bar. The prototype store, like Apple stores, also allows customers to bypass lines and pay employees armed with mobile POS devices.

The smaller store opened a few weeks ago and is less focused on displaying every gadget and more on connecting customers with employees.

Best Buy shares were down 2 percent at $21.75 Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Company executives told The Wall Street Journal that they hope the new store concept will help turn around those numbers, and that stores will become a place where customers want to congregate and learn how to get more out of their gadgets.

Read more about store design and layout.