Target: $15b, 630 Units by '95: Greatland: extra space, deeper merchandise mix - Dayton-Hudson Corp. Target Stores

Discount Store News, Oct 15, 1990

Target: $15B, 630 Units by '95

APPLE VALLEY, Minn. - At a time when retailers across the country are opening their own versions of the store of the '90s, Target last month unveiled its Greatland superstore concept.

"Target Greatland is the result of 25 years of retail experience and customer feedback," said Robert Ulrich, chairman and chief executive officer of the Minneapolis-based discounter. "It is the ultimate discount store for the more sophisticated, time-conscious '90s consumer."

At 169,000 square feet, Greatland is more than 50% larger than a typical 100,000-square-foot Target store. The extra space has enabled the chain to utilize wide 10-foot to 12-foot aisles (from 12 inches to 16 inches wider than similarly located aisles in the regular Target prototype), create special "shop" areas that combine products from several merchandise categories under a similar theme, and devote additional space to numerous customer service enhancements, like six highly visible mini-information centers containing a telephone and a bar code scanner so that shoppers can scan merchandise that doesn't have price tags.

The extra space also allows Target to increase the depth of merchandise in most every product category and expand the selection in several killer departments, such as toys, basic housewares and health and beauty aids.

Everything about Greatland is bigger than a typical Target store. The sku count is two-thirds higher, the parking lot contains spaces for over 1,000 autos, a quarter-mile of 12-foot high warehouse racking rims the side and back walls of the store, fixtures throughout the store are up to a foot higher than a typical Target and because they're bit deeper they hold more merchandise. Even the 900 shopping carts are oversized to carry more merchandise through the 32 belted checkout counters.

But, if it was size alone that set Greatland apart from other retail concepts, Target's new superstore might be doomed to the same tepid results as several of the huge hypermarkets that have floundered in recent years.

A "Guest Service" counter - rather than customer service - sets the tone of the type of shopping experiences customers can expect at Target Greatland. Other customer service features of Greatland include: * A sheltered, drive-up car port for drop-off, pick-up and loading; * Baby changing tables in both men's and women's restrooms; * Three-sided fixtures at the front of store with color-coded store directory and neighborhood news; * A postal service center; * One-hour photo processing mini-lab, in addition to regular photo finishing service.

Greatland employees are graduates of Target University, where they are taught Disney World-like customer, or guest, service techniques. The store manager is called Store Director, and the managers of the seven major merchandise areas - apparel, leisure, home, consumables, toys/kids, stationery/office and seasonal - are called World Managers (i.e., Apparel World Manager). A local acting improvisation company participated in the training to help employees learn to deal with all types of customer problems.

The merchandising of the store also takes customer insights into consideration. Target executives point out that products are merchandised according to where a customer expects to find them, not according to which of the chain's buyers purchases the product. For example, hair dryers are in the H&BA area rather than with small appliances.

Merchandise categories have been positioned to create more logical adjacencies than found in a typical Target. Toys, for example, are across the aisle from children's apparel rather than at different ends of the store.

Also different from the typical Target prototype is the placement of apparel in the center of the store, surrounded by hard lines and consumables. Apparel features Target's typical selection of exclusive lines, including the new Elliott Bay men's sportswear line.

Special shop areas are also spotlighted throughout the store. An area called Off to the Hunt has four-sided signage over a coordinated selection of products sporting a deep green and burgundy color scheme. Products grouped together in the Off to the Hunt area include porcelain oval platters and candleholder sets, wooden frames, brass gift accesories, throw pillows, framed prints, clocks, desk lamps, table lamps, cherry-mahogany small furniture pieces, decorative welcome mats and flower vases.

Other shop areas include a Timberwolves area in sporting goods, a local high school sweats area at each of the two front entrances and a Casper Holloween Center in seasonal.

Among other enhancements: * A 32-foot video wall with 52 television sets tuned to the Target Video Network; * Wheeled carts containing an assortment of licensed products, ranging from toys to T-shirts, for Ninja Turtles and the Simpsons; * An expanded bicycle area; * Double-deep endcaps, up to five feet, for commodity products like motor oil; * A new graphics package, with lighted signs supplementing the traditional backlit Target lifestyle signage; * Sleek, chrome and black cosmetic fixtures; * Gravity-fed display of packaged sheet sets beneath new large poster signage; * Interactive display terminal in music and video department which previews 30-seconds worth of various audio and videotapes.