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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, November 8, 2002

Best Buy deal appears near

By Andrew Gomes
Advertiser Staff Writer

Consumer electronics retailing giant Best Buy Co. has decided on a new site in Pearl City for its first store in Hawai'i in a deal that could be announced as early as today.

The Minneapolis-based chain has agreed to lease a parcel not far from a property the company had previously planned to lease from Home Depot in Pearl City, according to a person familiar with the deal.

Best Buy officials were not available for comment yesterday, but have repeatedly said they would not comment until a lease is signed.

Best Buy is expected to build a roughly 50,000-square-foot store on a nearly 4-acre site not far from its main competitor, Circuit City, which operates a store at Pearlridge Center.

Best Buy announced in May it had reached an agreement to lease two acres on the diamondhead side of Home Depot's parking lot on Kamehameha Highway for a 45,000-square-foot store to open in spring.

But that deal fell apart and Best Buy said it would look for other sites.

Home Depot spokesman Chuck Sifuentes said the home-improvement retailer is now negotiating with a new potential buyer for its 2-acre Pearl City parcel in a deal that could be completed by the end of the year.

A person familiar with those negotiations said Public Storage Inc. is trying to buy the property for another storage facility. Calls to officials at Public Storage were not returned.

Reach Andrew Gomes at 525-8065 or agomes@honoluluadvertiser.com.