Best Buy opens; city hopes for economic boost

Large electronics store needed, says mayor

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City officials are celebrating the opening of a new major electronics store they say will keep shoppers and sales-tax revenue in Clovis.

Best Buy will open June 20 next to Target in the Clovis Commons shopping center on Herndon and Willow avenues. The store scheduled a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. where store officials will hand the Clovis Boys & Girls Club a check for $10,000 as part of opening celebrations.

"We look at the surrounding area and see where we have other locations and where there's a need," Best Buy spokesperson Katie Stoneburner said about opening a store in Clovis. "We're excited to be joining the Clovis community."

The store is estimated to boost the city's annual sales tax revenue by $300,000, and create 100 full-time and part-time jobs -- happy news amidst city budget problems.

During the last six quarters, the city has received flat or declining sales-tax revenue, according to Robert Woolley, the city's finance director. The opening of Best Buy will keep shoppers and their money home, he said.

"This has been one of our areas we have been lacking in, so this fills a big void in Clovis," Woolley said.

Nicole Gutierrez, who lives down the street from Clovis Commons, plans to shop at the new Best Buy.

"I was going to buy an iPod next week, and I was going to go to River Park," she said. "Now I'll come here."

Best Buy is a leading provider of consumer electronics, office products, entertainment software and appliances. The company has about 1,300 retail stores in the United States, Canada and China.

For years, city officials have been wanting a large electronics store to open in Clovis.

In 2006, the city of Clovis conducted a study that compared average retail sales in Clovis to sales in cities of similar size. Clovis had an $18 million gap in consumer electronics/appliances sales, according to the study.

"Getting Best Buy into the city of Clovis is one piece of a very large, complex puzzle," Mayor Bob Whalen said. "In order to improve the local economy, we have needed a large electronic store. We still a need large bookstore and sporting goods store, and then I think that'll bring a full compliment of retail stores to the city of Clovis."

E-mail Gabriel Alexander at galexander@clovisindependent.com.