Target Greatland sails into Columbus market - Columbus, Ohio - includes related article - The 'Great-Landing' of Target

Discount Store News, Dec 9, 1991 by Arthur Markowitz

Target has planted three Target Greatland in Columbus, Ohio, to try and fill the upscale discount store void created three years ago with the closing of Gold Circle, discounter in this fast-growing mid-Ohio market.

Target Greatland's success in succeeding Gold Circle here isn't assured, however, as the nameplate, part of the Target discount store arm of Dayton Hudson Corp., faces vastly different competition than Gold Circle had faced.

To capture Columbus, Target Greatland will be betting on the same four merchandising factors it is using elsewhere: sharp promotional prices, assortment, ambience and service. But the chain starts out with a handicap it doesn't face in other markets and which Gold Circle didn't have.

Gold Circle, a 76-store chain at terminus, was based in the Columbus suburb of Worthington, had six stores in the seven-county area, and was well known as a local discounter.

Target and Target Greatland weren't known in Columbus and the names didn't elicit any recognition when the three stores opened in mid-October. The single Target in Middletown and trio in Toledo, Ohio, are in distant markets that didn't provide any fallout recognition for the Target Greatlands in Columbus.

Target is headquartered in Minneapolis, so customers were intimately acquainted with the chain there and were receptive to Target Greatland when the initial superstore was unveiled in the Greater Minneapolis market last year--joined by a two more Minneapolis-area units in October.

The Target Greatland name was also recognizable to many consumers in Springfield, a downstate Illinois market (see story page 32), as they were familiar with Target which has stores in St. Louis, a two hour drive away.

Target is still testing the Target Greatland concept even as its stakes out an upscale discount store position in Columbus. But this probing could impact its stance via a vis the other half dozen mass retailers in the area: Kmart, Meijers, Harts/Big Bear, the Andersons, Schottenstein and Wal-Mart, which is on the fringe of the market but poised to move into Columbus itself.

Target Greatland also has to contend with about a dozen national and local specialty discounters in Columbus, including Kohl's, a Milwaukee-based promotional apparel chain that opened five stores in Columbus last month.

The Columbus Target Greatlands--similar to the two latest units in Minneapolis--are 135,000 sq. ft. each and stock 68,000 skus, a sign that Target views this footage and merchandise count as the optimum for these stores.

The Target Greatlands have 50% more space than the average Target and their larger size is one reason they are called Greatlands, store clerks were told at training sessions. But the apparel departments,

         Columbus, Ohio
1990 Population
City:                                            640,148
City/MSA:                                        1.4 million
Market Competition
(Seven County MSA)
Chain (No. of stores)
Kmart                                                   (13)
Harts/Big Bear Plus                                      (9)
Schottenstein/Value City                                 (6)
Meijer                                                   (5)
Target                                                   (3)
Wal-Mart                                                 (3)
Source: DSN research

at 40,000 sq. ft., are the same size as in traditional Targets, with the additional footage used for larger aisles and to augment hard lines sections.

This indicates that Target Greatland isn't keying in solely on apparel--which had been Gold Circle's attraction--but instead is focusing on hard lines, the core categories of its other major Columbus full-line discount competitors.

In playing the hard lines game, Target could find itself at a disadvantage. In this area, it is out-assorted by Kmart, Meijer and The Andersons, with the latter specifically gearing its merchandising to men with broad assortments in hardware, automotives and do-it-yourself categories.

Target Greatland creates a dominant merchandising impression by offering a narrow but deep assortment, selecting key lines and items that are backed by a large inventory. Greatland also counters the broader assortments of competitors' by stocking items found only in Target--the upscale, higher-priced goods that aren't merchandised by other discounters.

But on basic mass market lines, Target Greatland is on an even price footing with other discounters, reserving its sharpest prices for promotions. One competitor checked a core list of goods and found that Target was higher on all the items.

Target Greatland is banking on ambience and service as the two factors that will set it apart from other discounters and draw shoppers.

Its ambience, including the broad racetracks--main aisles are 12 feet wide--and a store layout that groups related departments like ladies' apparel and housewares adjacent o each other, make Target Greatland customer-friendly and easy to shop.

Target Greatland's ambience contrasts greatly with The Andersons, Meijer and Harts, whose narrow aisles and maze-like layouts, heightened by their high displays, create a claustrophobic feel.