I thought the 65k square foot type format would work for Target but the two former Kmarts they took in Grass Valley and Placerville are... poor. Department sizes are weird, space allocations are weird, the stores are poorly stocked, they just are not good stores. I question if having these stores is even good for their brand.ClownLoach wrote: ↑February 7th, 2024, 9:55 am
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.
Grass Valley has no competition and should be a strong store; they have way too much space for food (there are already plenty of grocery stores in Grass Valley- that Kmart wasn't even a Big Kmart- it was still a plain Kmart); they needed general merchandise especially home and seasonal type items (since there is already a JC Penney, Marshalls as I recall, there). The spacing is just off on everything. This store should do well but it would do a lot better with better merchandising. This was historically a very strong Kmart due to lack of competition, it did great until 2020 when Kmart quit stocking most of the store and the strong categories were throughout the store but food/consumables they hardly sold any of.
Placerville seems to have less space for food, also almost no seasonal (all of that is on a side wall- that side wall sort of makes sense), then they have pharmacy at the back wall with short drug/cosmetics aisles (this makes no sense and flows poorly); the overall layout and spacing in there makes no sense. There is more competition there including Wal Mart. You can tell this store isn't doing well at all. There is a dead oversized Save Mart next to this store (one of the few major remodels NorCal Albertsons did in 2000- it was a typical mid sized Lucky heavily expanded/remodeled beyond recognition made into a Grocery Palace), and the Safeway across the street is so busy/packed with customers it is difficult to park. Maybe someday Target can expand and get a full size store there and do better. The Wal Mart is jam packed. This store was not doing well as Kmart for quite some time and I was surprised it stayed open as long as it did.