To keep growing, incoming Best Buy CEO says he first wants to go smaller

As incoming CEO Jason Bonfig prepares to take the reins at Best Buy, he spoke with CNBC exclusively about how he's focused on expanding the company's reach and enhancing the customer experience. Part of that strategy includes investing in small-format stores, which open the company up to areas that can't support full stores but could still benefit from Best Buy's presence. Bonfig also said he's focused on leveraging AI for customers and for the corporate side of the business.

Best Buy is at a critical juncture as the consumer electronics retailer aims to revitalize its performance under incoming CEO Jason Bonfig, who spoke exclusively with CNBC about his strategy for the company. The company has been struggling with slumping sales over the past few years, which it has attributed to lower consumer confidence, less tech innovation and a slower housing market. In an effort to refresh its products, improve the customer experience and drive more sales, the retailer announced Bonfig will succeed current CEO Corie Barry this fall. As he prepares to take the helm, Bonfig has said he's focused on four key pillars: advancing Best Buy as a retail and technology company, improving its reach, enhancing the customer experience and focusing on being a human-powered company. Bonfig has also said he's looking into ways to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom and Best Buy's spot in that next chapter.

This week, Best Buy opened two new stores, one in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and one in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which Bonfig told CNBC illustrates his strategy as he prioritizes returning the company to long-term and sustainable growth. "What we're finding is that there are markets that we just can't be in with a traditional size Best Buy store, but they're markets that absolutely make sense for Best Buy from a reach perspective," Bonfig said. Shoppers wait outside at a Best Buy store on Black Friday in New York, US, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Images To lean into those markets, the company is opening new small-format stores, ranging from 12,000 to 15,000 square feet, compared to its medium-format stores, which range from 20,000 to 25,000 square feet. Some of its largest stores, including its flagship location in New York City, exceed 40,000 square feet. The new small stores tap into Bonfig's priority of expanding the company's reach, he said. "We also know that when we put a store close to a customer, it doesn't just change the customers' behavior in the frequency of the visits of the store … it also changes their behavior digitally as well," Bonfig said. When Best Buy joins a new, smaller community, he said, the company has found more customers physically go to a store for the first time, but they also use the app and digital channels as well.

The Jonesboro store marks Best Buy's return to the town after a tornado destroyed its previous location. "It's a great example of a vibrant market, a place where customers are interested in our brand, but not a market that could support a 30,000- or 35,000-square-foot store," Bonfig said. "An 18,000-square-foot store allows us to have the best of all of our different categories and meet the needs at that particular location." The second opening, in Cape Cod, is slightly larger than Best Buy's normal medium-format stores, coming in at 28,000 square feet, but Bonfig said it's another example of finding "the right size store in the right location in the right node." He added that Best Buy Canada, which can often do things faster than its U.S. counterpart, has been after the small-format store for "an extended period of t...