Retail News Update » SuperTarget stores

Target to open 27 new stores

retailnu — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:31:40 +0000

(CNN) — Target Corp. this month will open 27 new stores employing a total of more than 4,300 people, the company said.

The stores’ openings will come just weeks after the retailer cut 600 people from its headquarters staff amid what it called weaker-than-expected sales.

The retailer will hold grand openings for the 21 general merchandise stores and six full-grocery SuperTarget stores on Sunday. The new sites include the company’s first two stores in Hawaii.

Each general merchandise store employs 150 to 250 people, and each SuperTarget has 200 to 300 workers, the company said.

In late January, Minnesota-based Target cut its headquarters staff by 9 percent and eliminated 400 open positions. The company, citing difficult economic conditions and sales that didn’t meet expectations, also said it would soon close an Arkansas distribution center that employs 500 people and would cut back on planned new-store openings.

“We are clearly operating in an unprecedented economic environment that requires us to make some extremely difficult decisions to ensure Target remains competitive over the long term,” Gregg Steinhafel, Target president and CEO, said in a news release that month.

Retailers in the United States took a hit last year as a weak economy weighed on consumer spending. Retail sales fell six straight months until January, when sales rose 1 percent, according to the Commerce Department. However, retail experts said they were skeptical a rebound had taken hold.

Still, two other retailers also announced plans to expand. Kohl’s announced last month that it intends to open 55 stores in 2009, and Dollar General in February said it is looking to open more than 400 stores.

Target to Add Mini Markets to 100 Stores

admin — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:21:07 +0000

In a bid to increase business and customer count, Minneapolis-based Target Corp. will add new store-within-a-store grocery and fresh foods mini markets in about 100 new and remodeled stores during the course of this year, according to Progressivegrocer.com. If deemed a success, the company may eventually expand the section to all of its stores, said Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel in press reports. Although Target has long offered a full array of groceries at its SuperTarget stores, as well as a scaled-down presentation of food and beverages in most of its other stores, the latest iteration of its food-focused format aims to increase those offerings in its standard-size stores. The chain first tested the concept last year at two Twin Cities, Minn., stores and added eight additional test locations in other states earlier this year. The test stores now carry 50 percent to 200 percent more food products than its traditional stores, including a more prominent array of fresh produce, meats and bakery items in roughly 1,500 sq. ft. of space.

Target to Add Mini Markets to 100 Stores

retailnu — Sat, 16 May 2009 08:21:07 +0000