NAPERVILLE, Ill., Nov. 17 (UPI) -- Electronics and appliance retailer Best Buy, in a bid to attract upscale women, is testing a new type of store that looks borrowed from Pottery Barn.
Known as Studio D, the Naperville, Ill., store has none of the typical hip-hop and heavy metal and movie soundtrack tunes blasting and blending from over-powered speakers, the Chicago Tribune reported Wednesday.
Instead, it has a taupe decor, lots of candles and faux hardwood floors. Customers can come not just to look or buy but to take classes on things like how to turn a family picture into a holiday card and otherwise de-mystify high-tech products.
The experimental store, which is much smaller than most the barn-like Best Buy outlets, "has a more female bent," said Pam Langseth, a concept manager at Best Buy's headquarters in Minneapolis.
Studio D also sponsors community events and lets customers donate 1 percent of the purchase price of most products to Naperville community organizations.
