Archived store closing?

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Spot usually does a press release on spot stores closing in the 1st week of November. Not this year.
 
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Science250 said:
Is Target eventually going to close all of its big stores and just have a bunch of the small express stores around?
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No, one of the purposes of the small express stores is to fit Target is urban areas that aren't big enough to fit a big Target store. For example, there is no space for a big Target store in Downtown L.A. So, a express store was built to fill in the need for a Target store without going all the way to the suburban areas. Many of the big stores are thriving.
 
Just like clockwork, Target averages twelve closings a year.

In the future, the expectations for the stores will only increase. All of us in LV/under performing Stores will either improve or face the inevitable. Target cannot afford to allow stores to remain open that don't exceed profitability requirements. Not just meet, but they must exceed the expectations. The days of not pulling more than your weight are coming to an end.

There's not a DTL who wants this to happen either. That's why we'll start seeing more and more of them in the LV/under performing Stores.

As for all of the smaller format stores, eventually most of them will be shuttered within the next 5 - 10 years. The actual operational costs of these stores are comparable to the larger stores. I recently listened to a retail analyst discuss the pros and cons of such stores. These stores just cannot sell enough to offset the operational cost long term. Sales often plateau, and/or fall off over time, or seasonality is too much to overcome.

For those of us who have been around for a while, we've seen this cycle before. Sears, JC Penney's, and Montgomery Ward to name a few had small stores and/or catalog order p/u stores that eventually closed. They could not make the margin needed long term due to physical limitations. These were not the urban blight stores either. Different set of circumstances caused their demise.

Even the rural stores became too costly to operate for the same reasons. History, once again, will repeat.
 
No I in Team said:
Just like clockwork, Target averages twelve closings a year.
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When they are building more than they close. It strikes me as more the cost of doing business

I also disagree they are going to close small format stores. The ones that oepned last year have been so successful they are opening a lot more
 
HRZone said:
When they are building more than they close. It strikes me as more the cost of doing business

I also disagree they are going to close small format stores. The ones that oepned last year have been so successful they are opening a lot more
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It's not as if they are closing an obsolete store to open an up to do date store of similar or greater size. It is true they are opening more stores, however the foot prints are substantially smaller in most of the newer stores.

As for the remainder of the larger footprint stores, profitability standards will become increasingly higher as on line shopping continues to grow. Retail Sq Ft will not be as crucial to sales growth as it once was. Times are changing rapidly in that regards.

Eventually they will close a lot of the smaller stores as the incentives and operating expenses are fully realized. It is a cycle. Too much history in regards to that business model. It will not be over night either. Like I mentioned, it will occur over the next 5-10 years. I'm not implying all of them either. But a lot of them will eventually close over time.

As long as the local population fits Target's demographics, they'll keep them open as long as they meet their profitability standards. But once the demographics shifts and/or the profitability starts to decline over a predetermined period of time, they'll be closed quickly. Like I mentioned earlier these are costly stores to operate.

In the meantime, Target will cater to every possible need that they can as to build relationships in pursuit of loyalty for current and future business.

Spot is looking at it's market and moving towards it. Spot's not going to get caught watching other retailers take market share again.

However, that market is very mobile and susceptible to substantial pattern shifts. As they mature on move on, so will their taste and needs. Then Target will refocus and move on too. 😉
 
Your small format store business model is completely outdated. Amazon is doing the exact same thing: small stores = small footprint = showroom stores = massive profitability.
 
Super weird.

Now that my store is closing, I no longer feel an attachment to this company, even after 16 years.

I may just take the separation pay and leave.
 
It is hard to handle your store being closed,but you should not base your decision to leave on the pittance they offer as a severance package,that is a very small amount to sell your job for,remember that 401k and pension amounts are already yours and not something they are giving you.
 
Spot will send you, a check. You might want to retire from spot.
From targetpayandbenefits.com info page.
Retiree Discount and Retirement Gift

  1. You may be eligible for the Target retiree discount privilege, as well as a retirement gift, if you meet all of the following criteria:❏❏ Are at least 55 years old when you leave the company.

    ❏❏ Have 10 years of credited and continuous service, starting after your latest hire date. A year

    of credited service is a calendar year in which you were paid for 1,000 or more hours. (If you were age 45 or older and an active team member on December 31, 2002, five years of credited and continuous service will qualify under the grandfathered rule. Note: If you left the company and were rehired January 1, 2003 or after, you need to meet the 10-year eligibility rules.)

    If you are eligible for a retirement gift, you will receive information in the mail approximately two months after your retirement date.
 
SrTLall said:
Your small format store business model is completely outdated. Amazon is doing the exact same thing: small stores = small footprint = showroom stores = massive profitability.
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Your are most likely referring to Amazon's "Pop Up Stores" (the most active of Amazon's expansion models). These are literally Kiosk type stores located in malls and other tactical locations such as college campuses. Not the same thing we're doing.

Amazon is horizontally integrating, but nothing near to the scale or similar to what we are doing. Theirs is one of acquisition of businesses to expand (Whole Foods).

Target is using demographics to position new stores in areas which current and future guest are found. If I recall correctly, Target's key demographic market is women, ages 20 - 40 years of age, either going to college, attended college, or graduated from college, anticipates having a family or has a family. This is why the push into urban areas and college campuses.

Eventually this base does move on and out of those areas. Hopefully their experience builds loyalty and they continue to shop at the traditional stores.

The above being said, Target is building brick and mortar operations in expensive areas to operate a retail business in. The smaller the foot print, the higher $/sq ft required. You can't get around that cost impacting the profitability of such stores. Some stores will stay open, but a lot will close due to the bottom line.

All of the above business models you mention have been done before. The results were the same over time, they closed. They just couldn't generate enough $/sq. ft. Unless Target is willing to heavily subsidize these stores, or lower the profitability expectations, the inevitable will happen. You can't reinvent the wheel.

Amazon, unlike us, has the advantage of selling product where the $/sq ft is substantially less. We on the other hand have the advantage of having a place where you can go and actually touch the product. We just have to make sure we have merchandise when the guest arrive or they'll go elsewhere.
 
command3r said:
Super weird.

Now that my store is closing, I no longer feel an attachment to this company, even after 16 years.

I may just take the separation pay and leave.
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What you experiencing is normal. I've experienced several closings. A couple of plants were in business for over 50 yrs. Some where acquired while on shuttered after a contract wasn't renewed.

The reality is that you are responsible for you. The only thing a company owes you is the check in the amount for the hours you worked, nothing else, nothing more. It's literally business. The reality that ALL of the coworkers and myself learned when the lights went out.

Target is in the business to stay in business.

Always remember this; As someone closes the door behind you, you have to be the one to open the next one. Don't wait on anyone to open it for you.
 
Back to the original post, one way to tell if the store has slow sales is the closing times of the store, although not necessarily a factor to if a store will close. If the closing time is 10 pm every night, that can mean the store has poor sales.
 
OneGoodEar said:
Back to the original post, one way to tell if the store has slow sales is the closing times of the store, although not necessarily a factor to if a store will close. If the closing time is 10 pm every night, that can mean the store has poor sales.
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That doesn't really mean much. Several A and B volume stores in my area close at 10pm most nights for various reasons. Most of the time there's just so few people out at that time of night, and in a few cases they have to close at a certain time due to local regulations. Even the Walmart by my store closes at 10pm.
 
That's what I meant by a factor. It's not necessarily true all the time, but possible in some situations. One time I did look at the sales for the Target stores in the district. From this report, the stores with the higher sales were open later than the ones with lower sales. Also, although a different industry, I have seen restaurants that keep cutting their operating hours before they closed shop. Again, the shortening of hours is a possible indicator not an absolute one.
 
I'd definitely agree that stores that open at 7 or close at 11 or 12 have higher sales, but there are other factors that could cause a store to close at 10.
 
The store closing my state is about 15 miles from my store. The area it is in has a bad reputation. When I look up availability of an item that we are out of 0 out of 20 guests expressed any desire to go to that store for any item and asked about other stores that were further away that had availability.
 
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