The "new" Target

[Imprl59]

I can't believe I'm putting Target in the "Things I hate" section....

Target has always been my favorite store. I found their clothes to be of higher quality than other discount retailers and I liked the store and selection

Now for some reason they decided all of our normal size Targets needed to be grocery stores as well as Targets. The one closest to my house is in the same plaza as an Albertsons, within site of a Publix and within walking difference of a Winn Dixie, Aldi and SaveALot and a WalMart Neighborhood Market is just down the road.

I honestly can't figure the logic. The prices don't seem any better than other places. They have no meat department (unless you count the one package of gray chicken and one package of slimey looking ground beef), no produce department, no bakery... just rows and rows of frozen food and other less perishable fare. They took up about a third of the store to accomplish this so the selection on everything else is now horrible... Last week I needed a new tea kettle and the only one they stocked was $20, last night I needed some new boxer briefs and found they don't carry white boxer briefs anymore. Walmart had the tea kettle for $6 and my new drawers too.


It just makes me so mad that they did this. We have a K-Mart as well but when you walk in the door it's like you were teleported back to 1974 which leaves me the WalMart which is old and dirty and blech

And that's my tale of woe
Steve B.

[protege]

Target is simply following Wal-Mart's lead. The few times I've been in Wal-Mart, their grocery section is *always* busy. Their prices are no better than those at the local Giant Eagle. But, because you can get a week's worth of food, toys, and clothing, it's simply a convenience factor. People want to get everything they need in one place.

As for K-Mart, that place has always been a bit of a joke locally. Mainly because even though the store has been remodeled, it's still somewhat of a trip back to the 1970s whenever I head down there. Dirty floors, flickering lights, and huge holes in the parking lot....which have been a feature of that particular store as long as I can remember.

[Andara Bledin]

But, because you can get a week's worth of food, toys, and clothing, it's simply a convenience factor. People want to get everything they need in one place.

People are lazy. I know I have sometimes paid a little more to not have to make a second stop.

If Target wants to survive in competition against Walmart, they have to do this.

^-.-^

[AdminAssistant]

We have a full on Super Target, and it's much, much nicer than Wal-Mart ever thought about being. The meat selection is actually quite good and very affordable. (Plus, they have really good alternatives to Tyson, which is rare.) It's a bit more expensive for some things, but it's just so convenient to not have to make a second stop at the grocery store.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The swamp tried something like this 5 years ago, and got rid of it after a year. The company was run by people who used to work for Fred Meyer, so they figured our stores should be a smaller version of a Fred Meyer store.

I don't miss it one bit. There was all the extra checking the temperatures of the coolers and freezers, vacuuming out the dust bunnies, making sure product was rotated as it was stocked, letting somebody know when a grocery delivery came in (those items came on their own pallets with a chunk of dry ice stuck inside) so the product wouldn't sit and have to be thrown out, etc. And it didn't sell worth a shit anyway.

It's all about who you're trying to compete with. The swamp tries to compete more with Kohls and Walgreens. Target's trying to compete with Walmart.

[Imprl59]

Target is simply following Wal-Mart's lead. The few times I've been in Wal-Mart, their grocery section is *always* busy..

Hmmm.. None of the standard walmarts here have anything like this. Standard WalMart has One frozen case and one refrigerated case along with a couple of aisles of staples.

Standard target here now has a full third (maybe Im exagerating but its at least 1/4) of the store with groceries. The left side of the store from front to back

Now Super WalMart and Super Target both have a full grocery inside and I can understand that. I'm not really a WalMart person but I do shop the Super WalMart grocery on occasion. Their produce section is really good, and they carry some things you can't find anywhere else.

In any case Target has shrunk the stock everywhere else so much to make room for groceries that they don't compete with WalMart anymore. $20 teapot or a choice of 5 ranging from $6. We don't carry white boxerbriefs anymore or a choice of two brands and different count packaging. Those are just two recent examples... They didnt have sisters shampoo anymore, they didnt have her cat food in the big bags anymore, the clothing section is half the size it used to be. Seasonal is basically gone etc..

I hope they do like another poster says their store did and tear all that crap out. I want my Target back without having to drive 30 minutes to the Super version.

[Imprl59]

As for K-Mart, that place has always been a bit of a joke locally. Mainly because even though the store has been remodeled, it's still somewhat of a trip back to the 1970s whenever I head down there. Dirty floors, flickering lights, and huge holes in the parking lot....which have been a feature of that particular store as long as I can remember.

Sorry for the double quote... Brain is running as fast as he should this evening.

K-mart is laugahble here as well. K-mart is directly across the street from WalMart. Our local WalMart is one of the older stores and it's well worn but you are hard pressed to find a parking spot in the lot. K-Mart you just roll in and park right up front, plent of buggys at the door!, never see another customer while you are shopping but usually all the checkouts are closed with just one person running the customer service desk and acting as checkout. Everytime I go there I'm reminded of the plaid polyester pants my grandmother bought me as a kid and my bit#$ or a mother making me wear the horrible things to school. No wonder I grew up to be a misfit toy

[Skunkle]

Sounds stupid to me to shoehorn a little half-hearted grocery section into an existing store. My local Targets haven't done this...yet...but admittedly, neither is within walking or short driving distance of any other supermarket, despite both being surrounded by other stores both large and small.

Here in the Seattle area, we have Fred Meyer stores. I think they're in Oregon, too, but I'm not sure where else. Fred Meyer stores are wonderful. They have a small selection of housewares, some furniture and lighting, decor, paint, a fair selection of hardware and paint, garden and outdoor gear (the last four not "big box" complete, but similar to the selection of your average small local hardware store), clothing, toys, electronics and music, and a full grocery store with a deli, real bakery, large meat and seafood departments, etc. Most Fred Meyer stores also contain a bank, an optometrist, a full-feature pharmacy, a jewelry store (not just a little counter) and a small childcare area for shopping parents. They don't skimp heavily on any one dept. to make more room for others. The local Walmart is bigger, but the selection pales in comparison.

[blas87]

I don't even know what a Fred Meyers is.

I don't care much for Target. I shop there when I get gift cards, that's about it. Too pricey, when I could get the same thing at Wal-Mart. I kind of feel the same way about Shit-Ko as well.

[JustaCashier]

Skunkle, Fred Meyer was originally headquartered in Oregon, and AFAIK, still has a lot of stores down there. For the last several years, they and QFC (grocery) have been owned by Kroger.

The Target store nearest to me in Seattle, in a neighborhood mall, apparently is going to be incorporating a full grocery into their existing store. The Target itself will be 20 years old this year, if I recall, the building being built at that time as a major makeover to the mall, which was origianlly built in the mid-'60's.

Around 5-ish years ago, they added on to the store, and expanded sales floor space, about the same time the entire mall had another huge makeover. Apparently with this latest move, they will not be actually expanding building again, just using what's already there. The store doesn't feel crowded and cluttered, to me at least, but it will be interesting to see which departments they downsize, and by how much, and/or how much aisle space is lost, if that's part of the plan.

Mike

[KellyHabersham]

The Target nearest to my house is going through the same sort of renovation.......going by some of the responses in this thread, it's going to be interesting to see what the store ends up changing. (and makes me wonder if this might be why they've closed down the Garden Center area)

[smileyeagle1021]

Y'alls can thank Salt Lake for this monstrosity of renovations going on.
If Salt Lakers didn't go to their prototype store of that design in such numbers it may not have been adopted everywhere else...
You're welcome.