WASHINGTON (Map, News) - The Washington area will be among the first locations Best Buy will target as part of its push to gain a stronger foothold in the mobile phone market. The company’s newest venture, Best Buy Mobile, features stores exclusively devoted to the sale of wireless equipment and services. Most stores will be within existing Best Buy outlets, though there will be some stand-alone locations.

The chain is planning to open roughly 25 stores in the D.C. area and 12 more in Baltimore, Best Buy spokesman Jeff Dudash said Monday.

“The D.C. area really resonates with a customer segment we refer to as the urban trendsetter,” Dudash said, referring to the region’s young, affluent population that relies heavily on cell phones. Other initial target markets include New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Raleigh-Durham, N.C., Chicago and Minneapolis.

Mobile industry sales make up a small percentage of Best Buy’s overall business, Dudash said, as the company excels more in television and computer sales.

“We want it to be a lot larger,” Dudash said.

The stores promise to offer more choices with eight different network carriers and an extensive equipment selection including about 90 handsets. Sales staff will receive four times the training traditional Best Buy clerks got in the area of cellular service, Dudash said.

The move is an effort by Best Buy made the move in an effort to compete with carriers with stand-alone retail stores, such as Reston-based Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless of Basking Ridge, N.J. Neither company immediately returned calls for comment. The Best Buy Mobile venture is a partnership between the Richfield, Minn., company and U.K. mobile retailer Carphone Warehouse.

melissa.frederick@dcexaminer.com