Walmart announces major new store opening and remodel initiative

[retailfanmitchell019]

Are they underrepresented statewide or just underrepresented around Portland/Seattle? Given the closures they did around Portland I don't see them adding stores in that market. In the case of Seattle I don't think there is much need for them to add additional stores; Seattle has a lot of grocery options, also I think Seattle has a heavy loyalty to Costco, heavy loyalty to Amazon, the dominance of Fred Meyer and Target is such that I'm not sure what additional Wal Marts bring to the table in that market.

Wal Mart has opened a lot more new stores in the past 20 years in OR/WA than Fred Meyer... but those have been tough projects for them that take a lot of years to come to life.

I also think Wal Mart underperforms in smaller/medium markets where it competes against Fred Meyer.

Also explains the underperformance of Walmart in the Upper Midwest (Twin Cities, Chicago, Detroit metro areas): Target and Meijer are favored by customers in those places. Walmart also closed some stores in Chicago.

I’ve also heard Walmart underperforms against Market Basket in Greater Boston.

[storewanderer]

Are they underrepresented statewide or just underrepresented around Portland/Seattle? Given the closures they did around Portland I don't see them adding stores in that market. In the case of Seattle I don't think there is much need for them to add additional stores; Seattle has a lot of grocery options, also I think Seattle has a heavy loyalty to Costco, heavy loyalty to Amazon, the dominance of Fred Meyer and Target is such that I'm not sure what additional Wal Marts bring to the table in that market.

Wal Mart has opened a lot more new stores in the past 20 years in OR/WA than Fred Meyer... but those have been tough projects for them that take a lot of years to come to life.

I also think Wal Mart underperforms in smaller/medium markets where it competes against Fred Meyer.

Also explains the underperformance of Walmart in the Upper Midwest (Twin Cities, Chicago, Detroit metro areas): Target and Meijer are favored by customers in those places. Walmart also closed some stores in Chicago.

I’ve also heard Walmart underperforms against Market Basket in Greater Boston.

Outside Chicago including in the suburbs Wal Mart seems to be doing just fine though in IL. Meijer isn't doing great in IL. I am not sure what is happening there but I don't think they are doing well. There is a LOT of grocery competition in Chicagoland. It is like SoCal around Los Angeles but times about 5. Also in Chicagoland a lot more smaller operators are fighting on price.

In MN, Wal Mart has noticeably poor locations but remember both Supervalu and Target had heavy influence and that gave a lot of help in fighting Wal Mart/making it difficult for them to build stores in that market.

Basically in these regions that had the stronger/established presence of Meijer, Fred Meyer, and Target (MN only really in the case of Target) there wasn't as much of a need for Wal Mart as there was in a lot of other regions. The Target Store base in MN is first class.

[arizonaguy]

I believe Walmart is trying to take advantage of CVS's, Walgreen's and Kroger's troubles with some of these remodels.

I was in a busy (probably busiest I've seen) Neighborhood Market in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Phoenix today. Sunnyslope is a weird 3 ish mile x 2 mile slice of Phoenix that is relatively low income while everything due north and south of that slice is solidly middle class. It contains 2 supermarkets (an absolutely and almost embarrassingly awful Fry's and a Walmart Neighborhood Market) as well as one remaining drugstore (a relic 1960s era Walgreens which is apparently ever bit as awful as the Fry's - online reviews absolutely skewer the place and outside of it's vintage Neon signage it appears to be truly awful). The Neighborhood Market was across from a large CVS (former Eckard) that very recently closed. Also across from the Neighborhood Market is a large hospital (John C Lincoln Hospital).

Walmart is renovating the Neighborhood Market (with work beginning around the Pharmacy area). It appears to be more work than a normal Neighborhood Market remodel because a good portion of the parking lot is fenced off and full of construction supplies. This store was already much nicer than the awful Fry's and Walgreen's and I imagine they'll continue to siphon off business from both. Walgreens will probably hang on as it probably has owned its property for decades (it was co-located with a long gone Lucky supermarket) and unless the area is gentrified the store is probably marginally profitable. Kroger would probably better serve that area by leveling that Fry's and building something respectable but, like Walgreens, the store has probably been owned for decades (probably since it was a Smitty's) and is probably also only marginally profitable.

[storewanderer]

The Walgreens inside isn't different from any other Walgreens...

That Frys, did it ever have Marketplace or Fred Meyer branding? It struck me as a smaller Smittys but the non food side of the store is being used as a storage and parking area for Frys Facility Maintenance. Maybe they took too much space off of the store. I was surprised the store was still open but I think it is somewhat busy.

The O'Reilly by the Walgreens is that a former Safeway? At least Frys is still open in that neighborhood. I don't see Bashas either...

I didn't find it significantly worse than the usual former Smittys... low ceilings, oddly sized departments... opening up the ceilings would do wonders for this and many other former Smittys.

[Super S]

Will be interesting to see if Oregon and Washington get any new stores. They are underrepresented here but the NW hasn't been much of a focus for them.

Are they underrepresented statewide or just underrepresented around Portland/Seattle? Given the closures they did around Portland I don't see them adding stores in that market. In the case of Seattle I don't think there is much need for them to add additional stores; Seattle has a lot of grocery options, also I think Seattle has a heavy loyalty to Costco, heavy loyalty to Amazon, the dominance of Fred Meyer and Target is such that I'm not sure what additional Wal Marts bring to the table in that market.

Wal Mart has opened a lot more new stores in the past 20 years in OR/WA than Fred Meyer... but those have been tough projects for them that take a lot of years to come to life.

I also think Wal Mart underperforms in smaller/medium markets where it competes against Fred Meyer.

Fred Meyer is not the store it used to be though. As remodels have taken place, their focus seems to be on food and they are scaling many GM departments way back. Walmart just finished a remodel near me, and is just down the road from Fred Meyer. Walmart blows Fred Meyer out of the water on the GM side, and is particularly strong in hardlines. Fred Meyer is generally strong in grocery though, but their shift to a loyalty card program for sale prices and also requiring the use of the app for sale prices on some items has turned off many people. I have also discussed their cluttered aisles which is a growing issue.

Walmart for some reason has not had good prices in grocery though. Milk for instance is higher there than anywhere else, including Safeway. Other prices are nothing special, and are typically in between WinCo and Fred Meyer on prices. Another thing about Walmart is that they pretty much have NO bags available at checkout these days, not even the reusable ones at times. Fred Meyer at least offers paper bags, but they are small and tend to rip easily.

Walmart has built a handful of new stores in the area in recent years, including a second store in Longview, an expansion of the other Longview store, and a new location in Woodland (which does not have Fred Meyer) while Fred Meyer is for the most part stagnant. I am not so sure people are as loyal to Fred Meyer these days as they seem to be shifting toward the "Kroger way" of doing things.

With Costco building a new store in Ridgefield, it is interesting to note that neither Fred Meyer or Walmart have stores there. I kinda wonder which one will try to build first. Rosauer's actually took note of the growth in the area and so far it has worked well for them.

[ClownLoach]

Will be interesting to see if Oregon and Washington get any new stores. They are underrepresented here but the NW hasn't been much of a focus for them.

Are they underrepresented statewide or just underrepresented around Portland/Seattle? Given the closures they did around Portland I don't see them adding stores in that market. In the case of Seattle I don't think there is much need for them to add additional stores; Seattle has a lot of grocery options, also I think Seattle has a heavy loyalty to Costco, heavy loyalty to Amazon, the dominance of Fred Meyer and Target is such that I'm not sure what additional Wal Marts bring to the table in that market.

Wal Mart has opened a lot more new stores in the past 20 years in OR/WA than Fred Meyer... but those have been tough projects for them that take a lot of years to come to life.

I also think Wal Mart underperforms in smaller/medium markets where it competes against Fred Meyer.

Fred Meyer is not the store it used to be though. As remodels have taken place, their focus seems to be on food and they are scaling many GM departments way back. Walmart just finished a remodel near me, and is just down the road from Fred Meyer. Walmart blows Fred Meyer out of the water on the GM side, and is particularly strong in hardlines. Fred Meyer is generally strong in grocery though, but their shift to a loyalty card program for sale prices and also requiring the use of the app for sale prices on some items has turned off many people. I have also discussed their cluttered aisles which is a growing issue.

Walmart for some reason has not had good prices in grocery though. Milk for instance is higher there than anywhere else, including Safeway. Other prices are nothing special, and are typically in between WinCo and Fred Meyer on prices. Another thing about Walmart is that they pretty much have NO bags available at checkout these days, not even the reusable ones at times. Fred Meyer at least offers paper bags, but they are small and tend to rip easily.

Walmart has built a handful of new stores in the area in recent years, including a second store in Longview, an expansion of the other Longview store, and a new location in Woodland (which does not have Fred Meyer) while Fred Meyer is for the most part stagnant. I am not so sure people are as loyal to Fred Meyer these days as they seem to be shifting toward the "Kroger way" of doing things.

With Costco building a new store in Ridgefield, it is interesting to note that neither Fred Meyer or Walmart have stores there. I kinda wonder which one will try to build first. Rosauer's actually took note of the growth in the area and so far it has worked well for them.

I think Costco is kicking everyone's butt in the Portland/Vancouver area. Look at the volumes Costco is doing at the Vancouver area stores - they're even selling high ticket items well, which didn't happen in the past as people used to cross the river to sales tax free Oregon. With all the troubles there I think many people are just saving their time and staying closer to home. The Costco locations I visited in Oregon and Washington last time I was there were all crazy busy even by California standards (except for Warrington). Costco is definitely the retailer of choice for everyone we know up there, and they are taking share from Walmart, Target (especially so-they're in very bad shape in Portland market), and all the non-foods business from Fred Meyer. I am still surprised by the volumes I see Fred Meyer push through in some stores, but it seems to be 50/50 these days. They are either crazy insane packed busy with 30 registers cranking, or they're a ghost town with just a couple open and no lines/crowds. I felt Fred Meyer is more successful in Seattle these days.

[Brian Lutz]

Outside of Seattle and the Eastside Walmart has a decent number of stores in the Puget Sound area, but I think Seattle politicians would prefer to have food deserts over a Walmart store in their city limits. There was a Sam's Club on Aurora back before Sam's pulled out of the PNW, then the site got taken over by squatters before reportedly being sold to Costco, but they have done nothing with it and with its relatively close proximity to another store it would probably end up being a business center if anything. Over in Bellevue there's a Neighborhood Market on 148th, but the "Supercenter" in Factoria Mall (one of the smallest I've seen, 70k SF in a former Mervyn's) underperformed and they declined to renew their initial 10 year lease on the site. At this point I don't think there's anywhere they could even find the land to build a proper Supercenter store on the Eastside (except possibly out in the more rural parts of Redmond/Sammamish, which would be too far for most people to drive and devoid of transit options.)

Looking over current store coverage in Eastern Washington, about the only place I could think of to put one there that doesn't have one currently would be Ellensburg,

[ClownLoach]

As far as completely new stores go, look at the Target website where they document new and upcoming stores.

The vast majority of the announced stores in the new megasized format are going into Florida and Texas, Missouri, and the Carolinas.

I'd expect something similar from Walmart.

Also Walmart was doing something to add Neighborhood Market locations in the Miami area, and Target is adding several 48K stores in Miami as well which are rumored to be a revamped grocery centric small format that is closer to a Walmart neighborhood market than the current concept.

I expect that Walmart and Target will grow in the same areas.

I was also surprised to see a new LA area small format Target just announced for Lomita, CA at 33,000 Sq ft. in what appears to be a former Boys Market or Alpha-Beta. The most recent tenant was "Buy Low Supermarket". It had seemed like small format Target was all but dead in California. Will be interesting to see if Walmart starts to look for similar sites to open more neighborhood markets in SoCal despite their mixed success rate/high numbers of closures.

[storewanderer]

As far as completely new stores go, look at the Target website where they document new and upcoming stores.

The vast majority of the announced stores in the new megasized format are going into Florida and Texas, Missouri, and the Carolinas.

I'd expect something similar from Walmart.

Also Walmart was doing something to add Neighborhood Market locations in the Miami area, and Target is adding several 48K stores in Miami as well which are rumored to be a revamped grocery centric small format that is closer to a Walmart neighborhood market than the current concept.

I expect that Walmart and Target will grow in the same areas.

I was also surprised to see a new LA area small format Target just announced for Lomita, CA at 33,000 Sq ft. in what appears to be a former Boys Market or Alpha-Beta. The most recent tenant was "Buy Low Supermarket". It had seemed like small format Target was all but dead in California. Will be interesting to see if Walmart starts to look for similar sites to open more neighborhood markets in SoCal despite their mixed success rate/high numbers of closures.

Too many of their stores in development continue to be small format... which is strange... given how many of those they've closed. I'm not sure if they are stuck in developing these or what. It is so obvious small format isn't working for them or their image.

Their 65k square foot format is also poor and seems to have a generally negative reception from customers. So I don't know why they are pushing this. They need to find 100k square foot boxes and open standard Target Stores at the very least (150k square foot Super Targets are obviously much better). I'd also like to see them convert the Greatland build stores into Super Targets...

Looking at the Target list very few new stores over 125k square feet are coming: And I wonder how many of these are relocations?
Surprise, AZ
El Monte, AZ
Danbury, CT
Middletown, DE
Trailwinds Village, FL
Wesley Chapel Grove, FL
Waukee, IA
Springfield, MO
Fuquay-Varina, NC
Myrtle Grove, NC
Selma, NC
Grand Island, NE
Old Bridge, NJ
Bolling Springs, SC
Indian Land, SC
Seiverville, TN
Portland, TX
Provo, UT (is this a relocation of the pathetic small format Target there?)

[ClownLoach]

As far as completely new stores go, look at the Target website where they document new and upcoming stores.

The vast majority of the announced stores in the new megasized format are going into Florida and Texas, Missouri, and the Carolinas.

I'd expect something similar from Walmart.

Also Walmart was doing something to add Neighborhood Market locations in the Miami area, and Target is adding several 48K stores in Miami as well which are rumored to be a revamped grocery centric small format that is closer to a Walmart neighborhood market than the current concept.

I expect that Walmart and Target will grow in the same areas.

I was also surprised to see a new LA area small format Target just announced for Lomita, CA at 33,000 Sq ft. in what appears to be a former Boys Market or Alpha-Beta. The most recent tenant was "Buy Low Supermarket". It had seemed like small format Target was all but dead in California. Will be interesting to see if Walmart starts to look for similar sites to open more neighborhood markets in SoCal despite their mixed success rate/high numbers of closures.

Too many of their stores in development continue to be small format... which is strange... given how many of those they've closed. I'm not sure if they are stuck in developing these or what. It is so obvious small format isn't working for them or their image.

Their 65k square foot format is also poor and seems to have a generally negative reception from customers. So I don't know why they are pushing this. They need to find 100k square foot boxes and open standard Target Stores at the very least (150k square foot Super Targets are obviously much better). I'd also like to see them convert the Greatland build stores into Super Targets...

Looking at the Target list very few new stores over 125k square feet are coming: And I wonder how many of these are relocations?
Surprise, AZ
El Monte, AZ
Danbury, CT
Middletown, DE
Trailwinds Village, FL
Wesley Chapel Grove, FL
Waukee, IA
Springfield, MO
Fuquay-Varina, NC
Myrtle Grove, NC
Selma, NC
Grand Island, NE
Old Bridge, NJ
Bolling Springs, SC
Indian Land, SC
Seiverville, TN
Portland, TX
Provo, UT (is this a relocation of the pathetic small format Target there?)

The small formats on the list have been sitting there quite a long time. As we know, some have disappeared over time such as the San Diego downtown location that sat fully built and never opened. The only new small format I'm aware of joining the list recently is Lomita, and I wonder if that's something where they had signed up and tried to reverse course but are stuck with it and therefore decided to announce it... All the other recent additions are all 100K or higher, and anything that is a relocation will show it in the store name. Doesn't look like they have any current relocations planned which makes sense as they seem to be more satisfied with remodeling stores vs trying to start over elsewhere. Also many non-union retailers are trying to get away from relocation as a formal process... They like to do the whole "this store is closing, a new one is opening, you need to interview for a transfer" so they can fire problem employees (and of course squash unions that might be forming). So I could see them building out Provo for example and then announcing the small format is closing but their employees can interview for positions at the large format. Since the job titles and responsibilities are different between the small and large format stores this makes sense too, the small formats have more of a "everyone does everything" model where in a large format you generally have to pick one area and stick with it.

There is another smaller format at 78K that was recently added for Waikiki, but if there was ever a smaller format location that will do well it's that one. I believe it's a former Saks Fifth Avenue. If they just stock it with beverages, towels, swimwear, sunscreen and snacks they'd have a top volume store where they're opening. It will also serve the local high ride condos and won't need as much housewares, furniture etc. I would consider that to be a good example of intentionally choosing a smaller than normal box because of the quality of the location. A decade ago that one would open with a CityTarget sign for sure.

Otherwise most of these smaller formats seem like an attempt to fill an area on a map regardless of location quality. That's why they fail.