Electronics retailer Best Buy signed a lease to open a store in DeKalb last week.

Although the lease has been signed, there are enough loopholes that Best Buy could still back out if its terms are not met, said Community Development Director Paul Rasmussen.

Rasmussen said some of the things the company was looking for was speedy construction, a sign close to Sycamore Road and a set of financial deliberations that the city council has to vote on.

He said that an analysis done three years ago by the city showed 75 percent of all electronic purchases made by the residents were outside of the city.

“We knew there was a very strong demand which was unmet,” Rasmussen said. “It’s called leakage; it’s basically a bleeding of money. Our goal is to turn that around.”

There currently are 68 Best Buy stores in Illinois, with the closest one to DeKalb on Randall Road in Geneva.

Pankaj Mahajan, director of First Rockford Group, said he has been trying to get the corporate giant to come to DeKalb for two years.

“I’m trying to facilitate them with the city, get the construction moving along sooner,” Mahajan said. “If Kohl’s and Best Buy open together, I think it’ll be a greater impact.”

Rasmussen said the possible store would be a 22,000-square-foot enterprise, smaller than the usual 30,000- to 40,000-square-foot Best Buy stores.

“We’re not considered to be one of the prime locations, [but] we looked very good for the smaller size store,” Rasmussen said.

Best Buy spokeswoman, Erin MacMillan, confirmed the lease signing and said more details would be divulged closer to the grand opening of the store.

“Our target timing [for the opening of the store] is February 2004, but with real estate, timing can change all the time,” she said.