Best Buy is the latest company in the tech sector to open a research hub in Atlanta.
The electronics retailer will hire up to 200 technology, data science and analytics workers for an office in Dunwoody, which it plans to open early next year. Best Buy employs “a handful” in metro Atlanta now, a spokesman said. The company didn’t disclose the size of its new Atlanta investment.
Google, Microsoft and Cisco are among the tech companies that have recently opened or plan to open Atlanta offices. After the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, many corporations pledged to improve diversity in their ranks. That’s helped Atlanta lure new employers, as the metro area has one of the largest percentages of Black residents with college degrees in the U.S.
“We chose Atlanta because of its emergence as a tech and data science hub in the U.S. and the incredible talent pool in the surrounding area,” Brian Tilzer, chief digital and technology officer, said in a statement.
Best Buy said last year it would hire 1,000 new workers for its tech team and that 30% of them would be women, Black, Latino and Indigenous employees.
Hiring remains a challenge for many employers, and Georgia’s workforce remains smaller than before the pandemic. Mark Butler, state labor commissioner, said this month that Georgia has several hundred thousand job openings.
Best Buy’s Atlanta tech hub will be located at The Pointe off Georgia 400 and will join the Minneapolis company’s existing hubs in Seattle, San Diego and Boston. Best Buy operated 29 stores in Georgia as of Jan. 30.
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