Wal-Mart eyes new vendor store; targets upscale Charlotte Mall for second unit - North Carolina

Discount Store News, August 21, 1989

Wal-Mart Eyes New Vendor Store

Targets Upscale Charlotte Mall for Second Unit

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Wal-Mart is putting its second vendor store in a new shopping center, The Arboretum, being built next to a posh residential and golf complex here called Raintree Village.

Developers originally were negotiating to put in a Lord & Taylor store to anchor the 600,000-square-foot mall located in the most affluent section of south Charlotte on Highway 51. When the attempt fell through, the developers turned to Wal-Mart, much to the consternation of some residents who had been counting on a tony department store for their district, rather than discount city.

When completed, The Arboretum unit will join the first test vendor store that Wal-Mart opened in Janesville, Wis., in late June (see DSN, July 17, 1989, page 1).

The upscale approach Wal-Mart vendors took with the first unit can be expected to mollify community opinion.

The Arboretum also will include a supermarket, drug store, medical center and 300 apartments.

Although construction is in early stages, Wal-Mart said it will open the 114,760-square-foot store by year-end, along with a second Charlotte store also currently under construction, reported The Charlotte Observer.

A third new store in the Charlotte market will open in suburban Gastonia by Nov. 1, said M.S. Van Hecke, a business writer for The Charlotte Observer.

Van Hecke said that vice chairman Don Soderquist told him in an interview that The Arboretum store would be the second vendor store.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman confirmed that Charlotte will be the locale for the second vendor store but was unable to confirm which of the three new units will house it.

Although The Arboretum store is on the list for 1989 openings, Wal-Mart has set no date for either possession or grand opening, a real estate source said.

Originally, Wal-Mart had planned to open all three of its Charlotte-area units by Nov. 1, Van Hecke said, but unspecified construction delays have dictated later openings for the two new stores within the city limits.

A Charlotte-based vendor predicted that The Arboretum store won't open until 1990.

Because of the area's affluence, The Arboretum store will be the most successful Wal-Mart in the entire chain, Van Hecke predicted. All three Charlotte-area stores are being built to the prototype Wal-Mart has developed for large urban markets (see, DSN, May 8, 1989, page 1). Included in the design is a 20,000-square-foot expansion for a total of almost 135,000 square feet. Wal-Mart obtained pre-approval from zoning authorities for future expansion of all three units.

In a vendor store, Wal-Mart turns departments over to key vendors to design and merchandise. A high-tech Gitano boutique sets the tone. The Janesville unit features far wider aisles than normal and merchandise that approaches department store quality standards yet retains Wal-Mart pricing structure.

Soderquist refused to disclose in an interview with the Observer whether or how the second vendor store will differ from the Janesville unit, Van Hecke said. But The Arboretum's developer told DSN back in February that it definitely will feature wider aisles.