Ever thought you’d see the day you could pick up lipstick, grab some organic pizza or shop for a new sofa while looking for a new flat screen, iPad or home appliance at Best Buy (NYSE: BBY)? It could very well happen if the Minneapolis-based electronics retailer can find tenants willing to lease space in its stores.

With Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), Walmart (NYSE: WMT), Target Corp (NYSE: TGT) and even grocers like The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) adding electronics to their product offerings, Best Buy has seen its electronics market share, revenues and earnings shrink in recent years. That leaves Best Buy with little need for the 45,000-square feet its 1,300 stores average nationwide. So the company is hoping to shrink the stores by about 20%, walling off enough real estate to sublease to beauty suppliers, small grocers and home furniture outlets.

In some ways it sounds like a desperate attempt by Best Buy to avoid the fate of its former rivals Circuit City Stores and Comp USA. But subleasing is a growing trend among big box brick-and-mortar retailers and department stores facing relentless competition from online merchants. Sears Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) leases over 15% of its Costa Mesa, Calif. store to privately-held Forever 21. And Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) can be found in many Kroger Co. grocery stores.

In the long term, Best Buy could benefit in ways other than having a new revenue stream. Retailers such as Trader Joe’s could attract shoppers who don’t normally visit Best Buy. Suddenly those shoppers, many of whom may have tighter control of the household purse strings, could be browsing Best’s Buy’s aisles for a new 3-D television, household appliance, or iPad when they do their weekly or monthly shopping for groceries, cleaning and beauty supplies.

Who knows, they may even be among the new trendsetters Best Buy sees when the next electronics must-have comes out.

As of this writing, Cynthia Wilson did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.