Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

At Best Buy, Marketing Goes Micro: "Best Buy (BBY) store No. 952 is in Baytown, Tex., set amid the cul-de-sac subdivisions and big-box strip malls of Houston's metropolitan sprawl. In Best Buy's nomenclature, Baytown is a 'Middle America' location, tailoring its pitch to value-conscious family folks.

Lately, however, the employees at this store have noticed a different stripe of shopper: Eastern European workers from cargo ships or oil tankers, temporarily docked at Baytown's busy port, are spending their precious shore hours scouring the store's aisles. They take a 15-minute cab or shuttle ride to stock up on iPods and Apple (AAPL) laptops priced cheaper than back home. To speed their shopping, the Baytown Best Buy has moved the iPods from the back corner of the store to the front, paired them with overseas power converters, and simplified the signage. Since the changes were made over the holidays, cash register receipts for the boat workers have ballooned by 67%."

Link via Mike McGruff.