Sound of Music

Best Buy

22 Aug: Best Buy at 50: A Q&A with Founder Dick Schulze and CEO Hubert Joly

Technology has changed a lot over the past half century, and so has Best Buy.

Fifty years ago today, Dick Schulze opened a small store called Sound of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota, that sold stereos, speakers, vinyl records and other products related to music. Little did he know that it would become Best Buy, a nearly $40 billion company that now sells everything from TVs and laptops to drones and virtual-reality headsets.

As we celebrate Best Buy’s 50th anniversary, we sat down with founder and Chairman Emeritus Dick Schulze and current Chairman and CEO Hubert Joly to talk about how we got to where we are today and get a glimpse into where we’re going next.

Best Buy-tornado

14 Jun: 35 Years Ago Today, A Tornado Transformed Best Buy

On the afternoon of June 14, 1981, a tornado slammed into the Minneapolis suburbs, mere miles from where the Best Buy corporate headquarters now stands.

The twister churned for 26 minutes, all wind and fury, cutting a swath north and east for 15 miles. When the skies cleared, scores of homes, businesses and trees were damaged. One person died and 83 more were injured.

It was the most significant tornado to hit the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in 20 years — and its wake would change the path of our company.