Kmart's vignette variations - Utica, Michigan prototype store's clothing departments - AM Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, Sept 6, 1993 by Jeffrey Arlen

In literature, a vignette is defined as a short, descriptive sketch. The term can also be used to identify a brief incident or scene in a play or movie.

In the world of mass market retailing, Kmart has embraced the concept, bringing a profusion of concise apparel stories to the retailing theater at its latest, Utica, Mich. prototype.

The store, an ode to in-store merchandising, displays apparel in a number of formats that extend company efforts from what began as experiments in locations such as Oak Park and Auburn Hills to new levels of sophistication.

Despite the merchandising moves, the box--a big one with 97,600 square feet of selling space--isn't likely to be mistaken for Bloomingdale's or Nordstrom. Rather, the store, which opened last month in a Kmart super center housing several of the corporation's other businesses including Pace, Builders Square, The Sports Authority, OfficeMax and Borders, is a state-of-the-art discount arena.

Large, clear lifestyle photographs and attractive mixed-use displays highlight Utica's women's wear, which, if you include girl's wear, utilizes 13,600 square feet of selling space. At the front of the store, items from Kmart's premium private label Jaclyn Smith is in the spotlight. Also, new-to-Kmart--as well as the mass market at large--labels such as Summit by Leslie Fay Co., which consists of related career separates ranging from $18.99 to $29.99, have leading roles in this center stage location.

Plus sizes, a growth story for Kmart, has been expanded at Utica where the category sports eight more racks than at its sister department at Auburn Hills, its latest design before the Utica opening.

The women's denim area, which cross merchandises tops with fashion and basic jeans is similar to Auburn Hills, which opened last November. And, it tells a clear casual apparel tale. If the department has any plot ambiguities they fall in juniors. Merchants at the chain still haven't created a juniors-specific area in the shop. Instead they've opted to let the contemporary items, a significant portion of the assortment, in the denim section, rather than fixtures, signs or ambience define the department.

"The jeans area is designed to attract not only the busy, budget-conscious mom (the company's designated core customer), but juniors customers as well," explains Senior Vice President Donald W. Keeble, who is quick to point out that trendy items such as hooded flannel shirts, crop tops and short mesh sweaters play featured roles in the department. "Right now, the right merchandise attracts juniors customers. Down the road we'll see if we have to say "juniors shop," Keeble says.

In terms of floor space, and location, women's wear, as might be expected, dominates the apparel presentations. However, it is in the men's wear area--a location many felt was neglected at Auburn Hills--that several new and pointed apparel stories are being told.

Benchline, the men's collection that was spun off from Gitano, has an attractive area of its own, while Puritan, the Warnaco line that has been recently directed toward the mass market, is given a large degree of dramatic license. Puritan's multi-fixture shop includes a wooden treasure chest filled with merchandise, presenting a decidedly nondiscount looking image to passersby.

Another area of note is Kmart's new jeans shop dubbed Denim Express. The area is comprised of wooden, integrated fixtures for folded and hanging fashion presentations of jeans and tops positioned in front of a jeans wall segmented by brand.

Todays News, a current Kmart private label, is also allotted space in the fashion jeans area. That may change in the near future, according to merchandise manager Joe Tripoli, who says the plan is to phase out the Todays News moniker in favor of a new label which takes its name from the department in which it is housed, Denim Express.

Men's underwear is also revamped at Utica in a clearly denoted Underwear Station section.

The shoe department was reinvented for Utica. Shoe Mart, a 4,000 square foot center-of-the-apparel-area department is by far Meldisco's most sophisticated Kmart effort to date. "We were a little disappointed at our position in Auburn Hills. So we knew we'd have to come up with something special to get this kind of spot here," explains Hank Wansing, vp of business development for Meldisco. "We went out and studied Payless Shoe-Source and a couple of others, and you are seeing the result," Wansing said during opening day celebrations.

Other features new to Utica include a unisex department stocked with licensed merchandise from Blitzz Sportswear featuring the likes of The Flintstones, Popeye, Snoopy and other well know cartoon characters; colorful children's wear displays of cartoon characters including a stand-alone Mickey Mouse & Stuff module and an attractive sports licensing section.

Although Utica is a far cry from the dowdy Kmarts of old, CEO Joseph E. Antonini is quick to point out that the store is meant to make traditional discount store customers comfortable. "You can't say that we've gone upscale. It's not upscale its on-trend, but at low prices. Upscale is not in our vocabulary," he says.