Walmart observations

[storewanderer]

Targets in my area are busy almost any time of day, from what I have seen.

Same with Home Depot and Lowes.

From what I have seen at the very few Walmarts anywhere near me is that the parking lots seem kinda empty. I never go in because once I cross the entry door I immediately break out in HIVES!

Just kidding

At least Target has some productive stores left in areas with few Wal Marts. In areas where Wal Mart is dominant, Target is not very busy; they sometimes have big crowds on weekends during the day and that is it.

Target's store remodels lately are also terrible but that topic is for another thread.

Wal Mart seems to have suspended or stopped its store remodel program. A shame, as I liked the decor in grocery on this set of remodels they did in 2021-2022. It looked better than most grocery store chain remodels look at the present time. The decor cheaped out in the non food areas of course.

[Super S]

Wal Mart seems to have suspended or stopped its store remodel program. A shame, as I liked the decor in grocery on this set of remodels they did in 2021-2022. It looked better than most grocery store chain remodels look at the present time. The decor cheaped out in the non food areas of course.

The Walmart near my house, in Longview, WA, is actually undergoing a remodel as I type this. They seem to be going toward white on the walls with some blue color signs in grocery already up, which actually look ok. The first step was ripping up the tile and switching to polished concrete floors, it was only toward the end of that when the signs and containers arrived announcing the remodel. Not quite clear what the end result will be but I am seeing things like spotlights being added to apparel, something I have not previously seen at Walmart. I can't quite tell how the final layout will be, but I have seen the service desk move to the center front of the store, where it was next to the GM set of doors before.

[ClownLoach]

Wal Mart seems to have suspended or stopped its store remodel program. A shame, as I liked the decor in grocery on this set of remodels they did in 2021-2022. It looked better than most grocery store chain remodels look at the present time. The decor cheaped out in the non food areas of course.

The Walmart near my house, in Longview, WA, is actually undergoing a remodel as I type this. They seem to be going toward white on the walls with some blue color signs in grocery already up, which actually look ok. The first step was ripping up the tile and switching to polished concrete floors, it was only toward the end of that when the signs and containers arrived announcing the remodel. Not quite clear what the end result will be but I am seeing things like spotlights being added to apparel, something I have not previously seen at Walmart. I can't quite tell how the final layout will be, but I have seen the service desk move to the center front of the store, where it was next to the GM set of doors before.

Walmart has the same "airport" remodel underway in Temecula right now. I'm interested in seeing the finished product, if they dumbed down or cheapened the signage compared to the original new prototype. The design was done by a firm that designed airport navigation, so there was far more signage and some odd little details such as the aviation themed signage on the cart corral inside.

I am noticing that they are reusing the existing fixtures though, instead of replacing with new. That might be a good thing with the feedback on other posts that Walmart's new fixtures with the high risers for overstock darken the store. Could also just be local seismic regulations prohibit the excessive overstock unless they use a pallet-rack type gondola. They don't appear to be changing out refrigeration either though, and the freezer cases at the Temecula store are in dreadful condition. I can't imagine how they could call this a full store remodel without removing those rusty, leaking relics. Many have failed gaskets on the doors causing them to fog up or ice up inside making it impossible to see through. They Drip water on the floor as well. So not exactly sure what to expect. So far the new signage does appear to be of the same quality as the prototype, the little bit that has been installed anyway. The grand reopening is in late July and I think they're going to move up the freeway to Murrieta after as they seemed to be getting ready for a remodel there. That store is one of the mystery Walmart buildings with the full empty lot by the entrance as it was designed to have the grocery added in later like they did in Cerritos, Foothill Ranch and others; I doubt anyone would oppose adding it locally. It needs to be expanded with the booming population in the area packing the store.

One interesting note from my last visit to the Temecula remodel is that they had seemed to have reset the cosmetics area but there was still the half-assed "corral" with a register in front. Clearly the "corral" in this case at least isn't something coming from the corporate store design/space planning, which lends credence to our theories that local Walmart LP basically makes up their own programs and then the stores just get a local electrician and some assistant managers to go move things around without permission to create these dumb programs that obviously don't even work (otherwise why install glass cases inside the corral?).

[BillyGr]

One Walmart locally (Greenport/Hudson, NY) has been closed a couple times in the last few days, as they seem to keep having cooler units that decide to turn into warmer units instead when they catch fire!

I've heard of stores selling prepared food, but don't think that is quite the way it should be done

[veteran+]

One Walmart locally (Greenport/Hudson, NY) has been closed a couple times in the last few days, as they seem to keep having cooler units that decide to turn into warmer units instead when they catch fire!

I've heard of stores selling prepared food, but don't think that is quite the way it should be done

[buckguy]

Targets in my area are busy almost any time of day, from what I have seen.

Same with Home Depot and Lowes.

From what I have seen at the very few Walmarts anywhere near me is that the parking lots seem kinda empty. I never go in because once I cross the entry door I immediately break out in HIVES!

Just kidding

At least Target has some productive stores left in areas with few Wal Marts. In areas where Wal Mart is dominant, Target is not very busy; they sometimes have big crowds on weekends during the day and that is it.

Target's store remodels lately are also terrible but that topic is for another thread.

Wal Mart seems to have suspended or stopped its store remodel program. A shame, as I liked the decor in grocery on this set of remodels they did in 2021-2022. It looked better than most grocery store chain remodels look at the present time. The decor cheaped out in the non food areas of course.

have been to a couple Targets recently that were almost next door to Walmarts. No shortage of customers.

[babs]

Wal Mart seems to have suspended or stopped its store remodel program. A shame, as I liked the decor in grocery on this set of remodels they did in 2021-2022. It looked better than most grocery store chain remodels look at the present time. The decor cheaped out in the non food areas of course.

The Walmart near my house, in Longview, WA, is actually undergoing a remodel as I type this. They seem to be going toward white on the walls with some blue color signs in grocery already up, which actually look ok. The first step was ripping up the tile and switching to polished concrete floors, it was only toward the end of that when the signs and containers arrived announcing the remodel. Not quite clear what the end result will be but I am seeing things like spotlights being added to apparel, something I have not previously seen at Walmart. I can't quite tell how the final layout will be, but I have seen the service desk move to the center front of the store, where it was next to the GM set of doors before.

Are there any nicer Walmarts in the Pacific Northwest? Every one I have been to is a dump. Little wonder why Target does so well in the NW. It's like Walmart doesn't even try. Even this remodeled location probably will not look good for long.

[storewanderer]

have been to a couple Targets recently that were almost next door to Walmarts. No shortage of customers.

Sure, the Target with 54 customers inside is not short customers per se, this isn't like a Kmart who would have had 10 customers inside, but the Wal Mart nearby with 86 customers inside is much busier.

You will also find Wal Mart has more customers during more times of day. While Target Stores often have little activity in the mornings, Wal Mart Stores tend to have moderate activity in the morning. Wal Mart also has longer store hours so it is collecting sales for more hours each day due to the longer hours as well.

This article explains in 2021 the average US Wal Mart had $86 million per year in sales and the average US Target had $54 million per year in sales.

In the case of Target obviously small format stores bring the average down a lot, but there aren't that many of them, but in the case of Wal Mart the Neighborhood Market format stores would way drag the average down as I doubt many of those do much over $20 million a year and there are hundreds of them.

[storewanderer]

Are there any nicer Walmarts in the Pacific Northwest? Every one I have been to is a dump. Little wonder why Target does so well in the NW. It's like Walmart doesn't even try. Even this remodeled location probably will not look good for long.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "nicer" Wal Mart. I don't really think there is such a thing anywhere. Even the big Wal Mart near their HQ in Bentonville looks like any other Wal Mart. When I went in there I was really surprised, I was expecting some kind of a special store. Nope. Nothing special there. Then there are the bad Wal Marts due to poor maintenance, stocking issues, etc. But the usual Wal Mart is not "nice" by any stretch; it is functional.

I don't think Target does as well in the NW as you think. Their sales per capita in the NW are lower than most of the west. This actually surprises me. They seem to be doing better in Nevada than they are in OR/WA from this metric. That REALLY surprises me, given how dominant Wal Mart is in Nevada. Fred Meyer is probably the thing that is causing Target to underperform on this sales per capita metric in the NW. I see Target underperforms on this metric in UT and ID too. I am not surprised they have issues competing with Fred Meyer though the underperformance in UT is peculiar given the Super Target strategy there and that Fred Meyer was known to not be doing well in UT and Smiths definitely hasn't increased non food sales any better from Fred Meyer's marginal performance.

https://corporate.target.com/annual-rep ... per-capita

[ClownLoach]

have been to a couple Targets recently that were almost next door to Walmarts. No shortage of customers.

Sure, the Target with 54 customers inside is not short customers per se, this isn't like a Kmart who would have had 10 customers inside, but the Wal Mart nearby with 86 customers inside is much busier.

You will also find Wal Mart has more customers during more times of day. While Target Stores often have little activity in the mornings, Wal Mart Stores tend to have moderate activity in the morning. Wal Mart also has longer store hours so it is collecting sales for more hours each day due to the longer hours as well.

This article explains in 2021 the average US Wal Mart had $86 million per year in sales and the average US Target had $54 million per year in sales.

In the case of Target obviously small format stores bring the average down a lot, but there aren't that many of them, but in the case of Wal Mart the Neighborhood Market format stores would way drag the average down as I doubt many of those do much over $20 million a year and there are hundreds of them.

The neighborhood markets that you see getting remodeled and have the "(insert city name here) Market" sign are apparently doing very well and all are $30M or more, which shocks me. Source: SM of a Southern California neighborhood market that is over $50M and higher volume than nearby original Division 1 store that doesn't have full grocery.