DSN slates timely examination of Target - Discount Store News, periodical - Buyers & Sellers - Column

Discount Store News, Nov 4, 1991 by Don Longo

DSN Slates Timely Examination of Target

It was a Great "land" day for Target. On Oct. 13, the nation's third largest discount store chain opened a single-day record 22 stores across the U.S.A.

Almost exactly a year ago, Target unveiled the most exciting new general merchandise store concept of the year: Target Greatland, a 169,000-square-foot superstore prototype featuring super wide aisles, special shop areas for cross-merchandising products with similar themes, mini-information centers equipped with bar code scanners so customers could scan their own merchandise while shopping, a neon wave that tied together various departments of the color-coded store, and numerous other enhancements.

In Jacksonville, Fla., in Austin, Texas, in Bemdiji, Minn., in Columbus, Ohio, in Springfield, Ill., in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and in Palmdale, Calif., DSN editors and photographers covered the grand opening festivities of the most successful and most frequently emulated upscale discount chain in the country.

Actually only six of the stores opened Oct. 13 were technically Greatlands. But in substance, if not in name, all the new stores opened by Target incorporate enough of the Greatland prototype's features to give form to a vision of what Target will look like in the coming years.

DSN's readers will get an in-depth look at that vision Dec. 10. Through stories and photographs, DSN will take readers to the October grand opening, providing a glimpse of the excitement and drama of opening what amounts to a small chain of stores in a single day.

Target is in the midst of an ambitious expansion program. Indeed, at last year's Greatland opening in Apple Valley, Minn., Target chairman Robert Ulrich declared, "Target is ready to grow as never before." This past July, Target opened 19 stores on a single day, and next March, the chain reportedly plans to conduct at least 30 grand openings.

The expansion, and DSN's special year-end report, comes at what appears to be a critical time in Target's history. Just two days prior to the big grand openings, president Warren Feldberg resigned from the company to take a position as chairman of Marshall's, the off-price apparel chain. Feldberg, as president and, more significantly, as longtime chief of Target's merchandising strategy, has kept the discounter focused on its concept of product differentiation and exclusivity. That concept, more than anything else, is essential to Target's success. Under Feldberg's direction, Target buyers were required to exhibit a sense of creativity in product development. They must look at the world as a shopping basket and find ways to bring that basket to the average customer.

I don't expect that strategy to change much with Feldberg gone. After all, chairman Ulrich has been around long enough to ensure that the chain stays true to its strengths. But the loss of Feldberg, along with several executives who followed operations vice president George Jones to Rose's Stores earlier this year, creates more challenges for the upscale discounter.

All of which makes DSN's Dec. 10 special issue on Target Stores must reading for every discount industry executive.