The Wall Street Journal is talking about the smaller sized buildings that retailers are buildingre. Focusing on the electronic retailers Best Buy and Circuit City, the article states that the average size of their new buildings may be 30-40% smaller than their current prototype.

Two factors primarily are fueling the smaller-store phenomenon: Consumer-electronics chains need less space for merchandise as some products get smaller and shoppers increasingly buy music and movies online. And Best Buy and Circuit City, which operate a combined 1,500 U.S. stores, now need smaller structures to penetrate fast-growing suburbs, rural areas and gaps between their larger stores — places that can’t support one of their superstores.

“We’re taking a square footage and a revenue number for a market and, instead of trying to force it into one large box, we’re spreading it across smaller boxes that are more convenient,” Best Buy’s vice president of real estate, Pat Matre, says.

Do these smaller store concepts speak volumes about the state of the electronics industry today? The article alludes to the high volume of movies and music that are bought online, thereby further reducing the amount of space needed for this media in the store.

It seems that retailers are starting to realize that one size does not fit every market. Other retailers, like Home Depot and Wal-Mart, have experimented with smaller store concepts that have allowed those retailers to get in to neighborhoods or areas that they previously would not have been able to get in to.