Best Buy Expands Mobile Plans; Essar Plans 5K Mobile Retail Stores Across India

By James Quintana Pearce Jun. 5, 2007, 8:07am 26 Comments

–Best Buy’s trial of mobile-focused stores with UK company Carphone Warehouse seems to have been a success, as the companies are planning to expand the project. “Best Buy Mobile started out with 13 stand-alone and store-within-a-store locations in the New York metro area, and now plans to extend the concept to more than 190 locations in a dozen states, including Boston; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Baltimore; Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; Chicago; and Minneapolis. Ten of the locations will be stand-alone stores, and the other 170 will involve store-with-in-a-store upgrades”, reports RCR News.

–India’s Essar Group is planning a $250 million investment over the next few years to launch a network of 4,000 to 5,000 mobile retail stores called The MobileStore — it has already launched 40 stores in Mumbai, Delhi and some other places reports TelecomAsia. Most mobile phones in India are sold in small retail outlets. The MobileStore is in partnership with Virgin and sells some mobile content and other electronic gadgets like iPods and Xbox’s. The store sells mobile phone services with several leading telcos, not just plans from its mobile operator.