Target sets launch of test superstore - discounter to test new format

Target Sets Launch Of Test Superstore

MINNEAPOLIS -- Target, the 407-store upscale discount chain, will unveil a new "customer friendly" superstore format this fall in a southeast suburb of its headquarters city.

The planned 160,000-square-foot unit, about 50 percent larger than a typical Target store, has been tentatively named Target Greatland. Its grand opening is slated for September in Apple Valley, Minn.

"We began planning this exciting experimental format almost two years ago," said Robert Ulrich, Target's chairman and chief executive officer, in a release. "It will further position us as an innovator that is well out ahead of the competition."

The new Target Greatland prototype store will place the upscale discounter firmly among both K mart and Wal-Mart as a leading retail innovator.

However, while the two largest discounters in the national have focused their research and development efforts on specialty retailing concepts, hypermarkets and food/general merchandise combination superstores, Target has taken a different tack in its quest for retail dominance see "Innovation Keeps Big Three on Top of Game," Buyers & Sellers column, page 6).

The new experimental format is a customer-driven, value-based, general merchandise strategy that could provide Target with another growth vehicle to enter new markets, according to Ulrich.

"We may have another store or two under construction," said George Hite, vp, consumer affairs, when asked if more of the Target Greatland stores are being planned.

Besides the greater floor space, leaving room for bigger carts, checklanes, merchandise displays and wider aisles, the biggest difference between Target Greatland and a typical Target will be in its merchandise adjacencies. Products will be located in "customer-friendly" places. For instance, hair dryers, health care electrics and hair accessories will be grouped together. "Items that customers associate with each other will be in the same place," said Hite.

The experimental superstore will expand traditionally strong Target departments: H&BA, toys, children's apparel, home decor, stationery/home office, among them.

Added conveniencies for customers will include: a postal center, a one-hour photo lab, a state-of-the-art pharmacy and a new restaurant.

"Greatland" is currently the name and theme of Target's private label outerwear and outdoor gear lines. Hite said that the name of the new experimental store has no particular connection with the private label merchandise.

Target Greatland is not a hypermarket, assured Hite. The store will carry the typical discounter's selection of candy and snack products, not the supermarket-type merchandise mix found at hypermarkets.

"We intend to use this store as a vehicle for change: to push the edges of quality, design and trend merchandising in a low margin environment; to more efficiently deliver merchandise value and superior customer service," said Ulrich. "What we learn will be applied to future stores of this and other Target store formats."

With 1989 sales of $7.52 billion, Target is the nation's third largest discount store chain. It is the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corp.

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