(For more retail coverage, click GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

LOS ANGELES-Best Buy Co. has closed on its $410-millionacquisition of Torrance-based Pacific Sales Kitchen and BathCenters Inc., including the 14 Pacific Sales showrooms in theregion. The Minneapolis-based retailer will operate the PacificSales chain, which sells high-end home improvement products, as awholly owned subsidiary.Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath CentersInc., formerly a privately owned retailer, operates its 14showrooms in locations throughout Southern California. Besidesoperating the existing showrooms, Best Buy plans to expand PacificSales through new store openings, although the company has yet toannounce further details of the real estate side of the anticipatedexpansion.When the deal was first announced last year, Brian Dunn,now president and COO of Best Buy, said that the company wouldexpand the number of Pacific Sales stores utilizing the existingstore format. "We expect to expand the number of stores in order tocapitalize on the rapidly growing high-end segment of the USappliance market," Dunn says.The acquisition of the showroomoperation by Best Buy underscores the growing interest in showroomproperties in Southern California by retailers who either own orrent the spaces. A few developers have even launched projectsconsisting almost entirely of showroom space to capitalize on thetrend.Like many of the other showroom operators, Pacific Salestargets builders and contractors in addition to the general public.Its merchandise includes kitchen appliances, plumbing fixtures,home furnishings, televisions and other related home entertainmentproducts.Pacific Sales was founded in 1960. Its showroom propertiesinclude locations in Brea, Burbank, Carlsbad, Camarillo, Cerritos,Corona, Irvine, Rancho Bernardo, Rancho Mirage, San Dimas, San JuanCapistrano, Temecula, Torrance and Woodland Hills.