Wal-Mart opens in urban Los Angeles mall

DSN Retailing Today, Feb 10, 2003 by Doug Desjardins

LOS ANGELES -- Wal-Mart took a step toward expanding its reach into urban markets last month with the opening of a three-story discount store in the Baldwin Hills section of Los Angeles. The store is the first three-level Wal-Mart in the United States and shows how flexible the retailer has become in its efforts to open stores in densely populated areas.

More than 500 people turned out for the Jan. 22 opening, including local civic leaders and politicians who praised Wal-Mart for helping to restore a redeveloping area of the city. The 150,000-square-foot store opened its doors to a long line of shoppers at 8:30 a.m. and was packed minutes later.

The store is located about six miles from downtown Los Angeles and is the third outlet Wal-Mart has opened in the metropolitan area (its Panorama City store was the first two-story Wal-Mart in the United States when it opened in 1998). It's located in a structure that was built in 1947 as a Broadway department store connected to a shopping center, one of the first of its kind in the nation.

Wal-Mart's Bob McAdam said contractors had to completely renovate the building with new plumbing and wiring and install escalators to ferry both people and shopping carts from floor to floor. The structural design of the building also presented challenges when it came to laying out the floor plan.

"There are support pillars throughout the building and they had to work around them," said McAdam, vp of corporate affairs for Wal-Mart. "It's probably the most unique store in the most unique environment we're ever going to build."

But the hard work is expected to pay off at the cash register. According to representatives from the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza shopping center that Wal-Mart now anchors, more than two million people live within a seven-mile radius of the store. The densely populated area is predominantly African-American and Latino.

"If the first few days of business are any indication, it's going to be one of the best-producing stores in the chain," said McAdam. By 10 a.m. opening day, the store was crowded and the checkout stands were jammed with long lines. The situation was the same four days later at 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon.

The store dedicates the entire first floor to apparel and accessories with a small jewelry department. The second floor has a six-aisle grocery section near the entrance to the shopping mall and is home to a vision center and pharmacy. A large video and home electronics department is on the third floor along with sections for sporting goods and home furnishings.

While the store has everything found in a typical discount store--except for food retailing units like McDonald's--it has a much different atmosphere. The aisles are narrower, the ceilings are lower and the store has very little natural light.