Best Buy quietly reopened a previously closed store south of Newark and across from Christiana Hospital.
The Center Pointe location is part of a five-store rollout of the concept in Texas, Delaware, North Carolina and California, the Dallas News reported.
The stores are open Friday through Sunday.
The opening is good news for Center Pointe, a Capano-owned center that saw the departure of Eastern Mountain Sports and the Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse in 2016.
A visit to the location showed the floor space primarily occupied by washers, refrigerators, and other large appliances, with a small area devoted to big screen televisions.
Delaware is a good location to test the strategy on higher priced goods, due to its lack of a sales tax and proximity to markets like Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Sears has operated an appliance and furniture store in the same general area for many years. More recently upscale retailer Restoration Hardware opened an outlet in the Christiana Town Center off Route 273.
Earlier this year, Best Buy closed the Center Pointe store and another location off Kirkwood Highway in the Milltown area. It then opened a store in the Christiana Fashion Center, near the mall.
The Fashion Center store came with a new format aimed at building sales at the retailer, which has been hit with increased competition in the electronics and appliance area.
Competitors, such as Walmart and Costco have battled Best Buy with lower-cost warranties on large-screen televisions. The warranties were a lucrative source of revenue for the Minnesota retailer over the years.
In 2016, JC Penney, which has a store at Christiana Mall, moved into the appliance arena.
Existing the Christiana Mall area is Sears, which is closing an appliance store that featured its Kenmore brand.
