Best Buy Europe planning about 100 new stores

LONDON (Reuters) - Roger Taylor, the chief executive of new electrical goods venture Best Buy Europe, said on Tuesday it planned to open "a hundred or so" large format stores over the next four to five years, mainly in the UK.

Taylor, chief financial officer of Britain's Carphone Warehouse (CPW.L) which has formed the new venture with U.S. group Best Buy (BBY.N), told Reuters it planned to open three or four stores in Britain next summer.

"The general consumer environment is tough," he said in a telephone interview from Chicago, where Carphone and Best Buy are meeting analysts and investors.

"(But) I don't think there could be a better time to do it," he added, saying there were more sites available for new stores than at any time in the past five years and that rivals might struggle to respond when trading conditions are so hard.

Taylor said Best Buy Europe would look at taking an online business into mainland Europe after around 12 to 24 months and that it would aim to have new stores there before March 2013.

(Reporting by Mark Potter, Editing by Kate Holton)