Last year, the family-owned Junction Bookstore, formerly located at 822 W. Lincoln Highway, closed down because of competition with local competitors Borders Books and Music, 2520 Sycamore Road and Barnes and Noble, 2439 Sycamore Road.

Now, local electronics venues will have competition with Best Buy’s pending arrival in spring 2004.

Donald Paulsen of Paulsen Appliance and Electronics, 245 W. State St., feels confident even with the new competition.

“We’ve been slightly affected when other major companies arrived, but we’re confident with our customers,” Paulsen said.

Ardeshir Niliaram, president of CBSi, 770 Peace Road, said because the economy is down, consumers tend to upgrade their equipment instead of purchasing new ones, which can be beneficial to his company.

Senior economics major Andy Jalley said he’s seen that smaller stores have higher prices.

“Granted that smaller stores have better services, [but] corporate stores have better advantages such as economy and sales,” Jalley said.