Finest Purchase is at a vital juncture as the patron electronics retailer goals to revitalize its efficiency below incoming CEO Jason Bonfig, who spoke solely with CNBC about his technique for the corporate.
The corporate has been combating slumping gross sales over the previous few years, which it has attributed to decrease shopper confidence, much less tech innovation and a slower housing market. In an effort to refresh its merchandise, enhance the client expertise and drive extra gross sales, the retailer introduced Bonfig will succeed present CEO Corie Barry this fall.
As he prepares to take the helm, Bonfig has mentioned he is centered on 4 key pillars: advancing Finest Purchase as a retail and know-how firm, enhancing its attain, enhancing the client expertise and specializing in being a human-powered firm. Bonfig has additionally mentioned he is trying into methods to capitalize on the unreal intelligence growth and Finest Purchase’s spot in that subsequent chapter.
This week, Finest Purchase opened two new shops, one in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and one in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, which Bonfig advised CNBC illustrates his technique as he prioritizes returning the corporate to long-term and sustainable development.
“What we’re discovering is that there are markets that we simply cannot be in with a conventional measurement Finest Purchase retailer, however they’re markets that completely make sense for Finest Purchase from a attain perspective,” Bonfig mentioned.
Consumers wait outdoors at a Finest Purchase retailer on Black Friday in New York, US, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
Victor J. Blue | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
To lean into these markets, the corporate is opening new small-format shops, starting from 12,000 to fifteen,000 sq. toes, in comparison with its medium-format shops, which vary from 20,000 to 25,000 sq. toes. A few of its largest shops, together with its flagship location in New York Metropolis, exceed 40,000 sq. toes.
The brand new small shops faucet into Bonfig’s precedence of increasing the corporate’s attain, he mentioned.
“We additionally know that once we put a retailer near a buyer, it does not simply change the purchasers’ habits within the frequency of the visits of the shop … it additionally modifications their habits digitally as nicely,” Bonfig mentioned.
When Finest Purchase joins a brand new, smaller neighborhood, he mentioned, the corporate has discovered extra prospects bodily go to a retailer for the primary time, however additionally they use the app and digital channels as nicely. The Jonesboro retailer marks Finest Purchase’s return to the city after a twister destroyed its earlier location.
“It is an excellent instance of a vibrant market, a spot the place prospects are all for our model, however not a market that might assist a 30,000- or 35,000-square-foot retailer,” Bonfig mentioned. “An 18,000-square-foot retailer permits us to have the very best of all of our totally different classes and meet the wants at that exact location.”
The second opening, in Cape Cod, is barely bigger than Finest Purchase’s regular medium-format shops, coming in at 28,000 sq. toes, however Bonfig mentioned it is one other instance of discovering “the proper measurement retailer in the proper location in the proper node.”
He added that Finest Purchase Canada, which may typically do issues quicker than its U.S. counterpart, has been after the small-format retailer for “an prolonged time frame” and has seen success with areas as small as 7,000 sq. toes.
Nonetheless, Bonfig emphasised that the small shops will not be a alternative for its extra typical-format areas.
“It is really an enhancement of what we’re doing in the present day,” he mentioned. “But it surely really permits us to achieve extra prospects and extra markets that we simply weren’t in earlier than.”
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Jason Bonfig to succeed Corie Barry as Chief Govt Officer.
Courtesy: Finest Purchase
Over the previous 5 years, Finest Purchase has seen its inventory sink roughly 20% after hitting its peak in late 2021, buying and selling at $138 per share.
For the present fiscal 12 months, Finest Purchase has mentioned it expects comparable gross sales within the vary of a decline of 1% to a rise of 1%. Although its most up-to-date quarter outperformed Wall Road expectations, it got here on the heels of years of declines, just like the third fiscal quarter of 2026, when Finest Purchase reported web revenue of $140 million, down from $273 million the 12 months prior.
The retailer was additionally hit by tariffs and is navigating the hovering worth of reminiscence chips, which have triggered the prices of some shopper electronics to rise.
Bonfig mentioned he attributes Finest Purchase’s latest stagnant efficiency to a common pull-forward habits from shoppers throughout Covid that created an unprecedented demand curve that led to a lull. Like dwelling enchancment corporations, Finest Purchase noticed outsized spending as buyers had been caught at dwelling and seeking to improve.
He mentioned Finest Purchase noticed that habits reset the know-how life cycle for lots of shoppers whereas additionally forcing distributors to pivot from innovation to manufacturing.
“I would not say that Finest Purchase’s misplaced its momentum,” he advised CNBC. “I feel there’s been a really fascinating couple years, or perhaps greater than a pair years, available in the market the place there was an fascinating demand curve the place all the things was pulled ahead.”
As he prepares to take the reins of the corporate, Bonfig mentioned he is centered on enhancing the client expertise, together with upgrading TV picks and dealing with prospects to switch their present TVs.
Bonfig mentioned he’ll outline success throughout his tenure as CEO by the client response.
He additionally mentioned the corporate is leaning into AI for patrons and the company facet of the enterprise, including that Finest Purchase is actively investing in new merchandise like Meta’s glasses. Finest Purchase additionally has an AI instrument for patrons to make use of, along with partnerships with OpenAI and Google.
“Agentic commerce and commerce via AI platforms is occurring in the present day,” Bonfig mentioned. “We’re seeing site visitors there, and we wish to guarantee that the Finest Purchase expertise is represented.”
Nonetheless, he added, he expects AI to be an enhancement to the human energy behind Finest Purchase.
And, in the end, as he seems to be to step into his new function, Bonfig mentioned he nonetheless believes within the core energy of Finest Purchase regardless of its latest stagnation.
“Corie had an incredible technique, and my technique is constructed on high of that,” Bonfig mentioned. “There’s a large quantity of momentum.”