The company's primary store format is its "large box" retailstore of 17,000 sf, about 135 of which the Guitar Center operatestoday, Albertson told the crowd. Although Albertson talked of thepotential for a total of "about 160" of those large box stores, henoted that "In Chicago about two weeks ago, we opened three morestores on one night to see if we could get greater saturation outof large cities, and if that proves successful, we will see manymore opportunities for large boxes in the US."

The second-largest format is the company's 10,000-sf store,which is designed for cities with populations of from 250,000 to900,000. The Guitar Center operates 46 of these today and believesthere are opportunities to expand to 160 locations.

The third format is the 5,000-sf store, two of which are inoperation, with another scheduled to open this year. If the newformat succeeds, the chain sees the potential for 90 to 100 of the5,000-sf stores, Albertson said.