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Best Buy is creating new in-store Connected Home departments that should roll out to more than 400 stores by Thanksgiving (yes, there’s also a website). The departments will contain more than 100 smart home products, including the Peq hub, Nest and Honeywell thermostats, Dropcam cameras, Hue lights and many other brands large and small. There will be a mix of one-off devices and managed services from local ISPs or ADT, as well as more DIY-but-still-managed services such as Peq that come with a fee.

[company]Best Buy[/company] is also placing routers and access points in this section under the idea that they are the “plumbing” of a smart home. And the company is pitching router upgrades. Given how terrible some ISP equipment is and the associated monthly fees, buying a router upgrade isn’t a bad idea.

The Richfield, Minnesota–based retailer will also train connected home specialists in more than 200 stores. Those specialists can provide more help than the average Best Buy salesperson and get Best Buy’s Geek Squad into the home automation business with their own training. (I guess I have a fall back option if Gigaom doesn’t work out.)

Best Buy is joining other big box retailers such as Staples, [company]Home Depot[/company] and Lowe’s, which have also unveiled programs or connected home products in their stores. You can hear more from buyers representing those retailers later this month at our Structure Connect event on October 21 and 22, where buyers from [company]Staples[/company] and [company]Lowe’s[/company] will discuss their strategies for sourcing products and will talk about how consumers buy connected products.

Found this Wink end cap at newly opened Target store in Andover MA w/65W equiv PAR lamps from GE @gigastacey #wink pic.twitter.com/m8xyBzUHbp — jim frey (@smartlumens) October 8, 2014

Best Buy isn’t the only retailer gearing up for a smart home holiday. Jim Frey (@smartlumens) sent me a picture of a Massachusetts [company]Target[/company] featuring an end cap with Wink’s hub and various good, as well as what look like connected locks. I’ve reached out to Target to find out what it might be selling.

For the consumer, having smart home products in big box stores is good news. It will help drive the price of goods lower and also lets people touch and feel connected products before they shell out what can be considerably more than a non-connected product. I think trained staff will be an essential component to this strategy, as well as education about how these products can work together. Otherwise the line for returns after this holiday season will be long.