Une nouvelle chaîne de magasins « ;santé ;» sous le nom de « Eq-life ;» va voir le jour aux USA. Lancée par Best Buy CO. elle va cibler principalement les plus de 50 ans.
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Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. merchant of consumer electronics, plans early next year to try its hand at a new retail concept: a health, wellness and technology store.
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Eighteen months in the making, Best Buy’s new entity called Eq-life will combine several « lifestyle » elements at an 18,000-square-foot shop at Southdale Square in Richfield, Minn. The store will include nutritional supplements, exercise merchandise, personal-care products, some consumer electronics, and print and digital information on health-related topics.
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Other key features of the first Eq-life (whose name is derived from the words equilibrium and lifestyle) will include a spa salon and a pharmacy, said Eq-life spokeswoman Sue Lee. PrairieStone Pharmacy and Park Nicollet Health Services are key strategic partners who will be part of the Eq-life store, she added.
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Best Buy wants to see if it can tap into an estimated $300 billion annual health-and-wellness retailing industry spread across pharmacies, supermarkets, and sporting goods and health stores.
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Lee contended that Best Buy’s Eq-life concept is « carving out new retail space » because it will bring several health and wellness lifestyle elements under one roof for one-stop shopping, also offering consumers the technology to integrate those products and services. For example, people who want to buy yoga mats will also be able to buy DVDs on yoga so they can learn how to practice it, she said.
Mike Marolt, a former Best Buy senior executive, is president of Eq-life and Susan Goode is its director of branding and consumer insights.
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Although the Eq-life concept is designed to serve all adults, company officials expect the test store’s primary patrons will be women who are 35 and older, work outside the home, have families and are stressed for time. « Many want to improve the (health and wellness) balance in their families and their lives, » Lee said.
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Lee said Best Buy chose the Twin Cities to test Eq-life because of the high interest among consumers in living lives that balance health and wellness with work.
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Lee said it is too early to know whether Eq-life will open more stores.
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In recent months, Best Buy has been looking to make its namesake stores more inviting to women. This past summer, Best Buy opened a concept store in the Chicago suburb of Naperville called Studio D, which caters its electronics offerings and store decor to women.
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Best Buy operates more than 750 stores in the United States and Canada.
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