Best Buy opens 30 Chicago-area stores for appointment shopping

Since March, the appliance retailer has allowed only curbside pickups.

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A Best Buy worker helps a customer with a curbside pickup at a store in Montebello, Calif., on April 15.

A Best Buy worker helps a customer with a curbside pickup at a store.

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Best Buy has reopened 30 Chicago-area stores for customers who can shop via appointment. The electronics and appliance retailer closed its shopping aisles in March because of the coronavirus but has allowed customers to pick up items curbside that were bought online.

The local stores are among about 200 U.S. locations the company is opening. “Since each customer’s appointment will have a dedicated sales associate, there will be a limited number of customers in the store at any one time to ensure appropriate social distancing takes place,” said an article posted on Best Buy’s website. The retailer has about 1,000 stores in the U.S.

It outlined several safety protocols: Employees will be required to wear masks and face shields and check their temperatures before they start work. The customer and sales associate will shop together, and an employee will immediately wipe down all surfaces the customer touches.

Customers can schedule appointment by phone, online or via Best Buy’s app. Best Buy said it has resumed in-home deliveries and installations.

In mid-April, the company furloughed 51,000 employees, almost all part-timers, while continuing to pay their health insurance. It has retained most of the full-time store employees and field staff.

Here are the local stores offering shop-by-appointment:

  • Algonquin
  • Arlington Heights
  • Bloomingdale
  • Bolingbrook
  • Burbank
  • Chicago (Bucktown)
  • Chicago (North Avenue)
  • Chicago (South Loop)
  • Countryside
  • Crestwood
  • Crystal Lake
  • Downers Grove (75th & Lemont)
  • Downers Grove (Butterfield Rd)
  • Evanston
  • Geneva (Randall Road)
  • Gurnee
  • Homewood
  • Joliet
  • Kankakee
  • Kildeer
  • Melrose Park
  • Naperville
  • Norridge (Harlem & Irving)
  • Northbrook
  • Orland Park
  • Oswego
  • Schaumburg
  • Skokie
  • South Elgin
  • Tinley Park

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