Best Buy relocates South Setauket store to former Sports Authority space in Stony Brook

The Best Buy store in South Setauket has moved into a space formerly occupied by Sports Authority in Stony Brook, but the relocation won’t affect employee numbers, the electronics retailer said.

The South Setauket store, which opened at 261 Pond Path in November 2000, closed on Oct. 19. The relocated store in Stony Brook, at 2110 Nesconset Hwy., is about 2 miles away and opened Friday.

“The [South Setauket] store had a mix of about 60 full- and part-time employees. No employees were impacted by the move,” a representative for Best Buy Co. Inc., which is based in Richfield, Minnesota, said in an email.

The retailer’s South Setauket store was about 45,000 square feet, similar in size to the Stony Brook store.

Best Buy has 885 regular stores, including nine on Long Island, and 23 discount outlets in the United States.

The Stony Brook space that Best Buy relocated to was one of eight Sports Authority locations on Long Island that closed in 2016, after the sporting goods retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and then closed all 463 of its stores across the country.

New location busier

Asked why its South Setauket store was relocated, Best Buy said it regularly reviews its store footprint and responds to customer and demographic shifts.

“We are simply looking at how we can best deploy our teams and physical assets to meet our customers’ expectations and needs,” the representative said.

Best Buy’s Stony Brook store is in a much busier area than the spot where its South Setauket store was located.

The Stony Brook store is in a highly traveled retail corridor, along Nesconset Highway/State Route 347. Large clusters of stores are visible on both sides. The electronics store is in a shopping center with a Staples, Michaels and Lowe’s, and it connects to another shopping center, Brooktown Plaza, which has an AMC movie theater, Planet Fitness, Burlington, HomeSense, Marshalls/HomeGoods, several restaurants and other tenants.

Across from those stores, on the other side of the highway, are several other retail properties with chain stores, including Lake Grove Commons, which has a Whole Foods Market and LA Fitness; Smith Haven Plaza, whose tenants include a Trader Joe’s supermarket and Old Navy; and Smith Haven Mall, whose anchors include Macy’s, Primark, Dick’s Sporting Goods and H&M.

In the South Setauket shopping center that Best Buy left, Target and The Home Depot are the only tenants in the three-building property, Nicolls Plaza, which is obscured by trees on State Route 347. At its Pond Path entrance, Nicolls Plaza is across the street from a shopping center that includes a Stop & Shop supermarket, Chili's Grill & Bar, One’s Nails & Spa and a few other tenants.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.