Carphone plans hi-tech store rollout

By Mark Potter and Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - Carphone Warehouse could open up to 50 new hi-tech stores by the end of 2009, in addition to the megastores it is planning with U.S. retailer Best Buy, as it looks to extend its reach in electrical goods, its finance chief told Reuters Tuesday.

Roger Taylor was speaking from the first of the new stores, at the new Westfield shopping centre in London, which he said became the group's most visited store on just its third day open.

From its roots in mobile phone retailing, Carphone branched into selling laptops earlier this year and its new store format includes areas for gaming as well as convergence technologies that link televisions, computers and other electrical devices.

It is larger than traditional Carphone outlets, at about 3,000 square feet, but smaller than the 30,000 square feet megastores the group is planning with Best Buy, the first of which is also due to open next year, for a big push into the UK and mainland Europe's electrical goods markets.

"We see the Best Buy environment being very similar ... with this dropping right into the heart of it, Taylor said.

He conceded that trading conditions were currently "challenging," and there was little sign of a near-term improvement, but said the group was investing for the future.

"We're thinking two, three, four years ahead around what we can provide and how it will change the consumer environment in this space," Taylor said in an interview.

Carphone is opening four new format stores in the UK as part of a trial, but could rapidly build on that number.