Best Buy Opens Magnolia Concept Store

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 6/23/2006

Atlanta – Best Buy has opened a Magnolia test store near the Perimeter Mall, here.

The prototype, which is the only freestanding Magnolia location on the East Coast, contains a 2,600-square-foot networked house, a broader assortment of premium A/V, and expanded custom installation services.

“We’ve created a space that showcases the best of ‘connected living’ in today’s typical home,” said general manager Lao Huynh. “This concept store brings the idea of convergence to life in interactive spaces that customers experience for themselves. It’s a great way to present the products and the expertise that help make anyone’s dream a reality.”

Rooms within the demonstration house include:

A casual great room with a 55W-inch wall-mounted plasma TV hidden behind a framed painting and a 100-inch front projection screen that drops down from the ceiling;
A kitchen with a PC work station that includes a notebook computer, digital camera, printer and iPod connected to the home network;
A patio with an audio system hidden in the surrounding rock garden;
An adjacent garage with exposed distribution panels that display how wiring for whole-house networking can converge within a single station.

The Magnolia store also features a custom installation design center with access to Magnolia’s home office designers in Seattle; a TV display section; and sound rooms designed as home-like vignettes that demo premium audio brands including B&K, Martin Logan, Primaire, Sonus Faber, and Vienna Acoustics.