Best Buy To Acquire Pacific Sales

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 12/27/2005

Los Angeles — Best Buy is buying Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath Centers, the nation’s 10^th largest white-goods dealer.

The $410 million deal is expected to close in mid-January.

According to Brian Dunn, Best Buy’s president of retail for North America, Best Buy plans to use Pacific’s premium home improvement format to “capitalize on the rapidly growing high-end segment of the U.S. appliance market.”

The move would mirror H.H. Gregg’s launch earlier this year of Fine Lines, a freestanding, premium majap boutique for high-end builders, re-modelers, kitchen designers and their well-heeled customers.

Pacific Sales, based here, operates 14 kitchen and bath stores in Southern California. The privately held business, which also carries A/V products, plumbing fixtures, hardware and home furnishings, is expected to generate $320 million in sales this year. White-goods revenues were $201 million in 2004, according to TWICE’s Top 100 Appliance Retailers report (June 20, 2005), which landed Pacific at the No. 10 spot.

Best Buy said it plans to operate the chain as a wholly owned, indirect subsidiary, and would expand the number of stores.