Lori Browder had waited a few months between Target runs before returning to her local store in Broadview, Ill., a couple of weeks ago. So when Browder, 42, walked through the doors, she did a double take.
“I was shocked,” she said.
The Broadview store is one of 18 Chicago-area stores Target is remodeling this year, on top of seven completed last year, as the chain invests in revamping more than 1,000 of its 1,835 stores by 2020. The Minneapolis-based retailer’s new look caters to customers who are shopping more online but still come to stores for quick-hit trips or to browse and be inspired, said Justin Burns, senior group vice president of Target stores.
Burns estimated Target is spending $4 million to $10 million on each remodeled store, a sizable sum when sales are growing faster online than in stores. But the stores aren’t going away: Nearly 95 percent of Target’s sales came from its stores in the most recent quarter. Those stores also filled more than two-thirds of digital orders during those three months, either shipping them to customers or pulling items for pickup, Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan said during a call with investors in May.
Target is betting that investing in a better store experience — whether that means making it easier for time-crunched online shoppers to grab their items and go or for bricks-and-mortar loyalists to linger and browse — will pay off.
Built for convenience
Renovations at the Broadview store were finished in May, said Christina Daniels, store team lead. From the parking lot, the entrance on the right leads to a section focused on convenience and quick trips, with groceries and a “gift and go” area offering cards, flowers and a rotating selection of items Target expects will be popular. Last week, the display stocked items for an outdoor party or picnic.
All eight self-checkout lanes, formerly split between the store’s two entrances, are now on the convenience and grocery side.
There is a larger order pickup area at the center of the store, with more space for storing prepared orders and separate lines for customers making returns and picking up purchases. The parking lot also has designated spots for shoppers who want their order delivered to their cars.
The rest of the store caters to customers who enjoy coming to bricks-and-mortar chains and browsing, with a more modern, upscale feel, Burns said.
Remodeled stores play music and there are more displays, with about 160 mannequins, showing customers how items — many from private label or exclusive brands — might look as an outfit or laid out in their homes. The company has said it plans to introduce more than a dozen Target-only brands by the end of the year.
An aisle through the center of the store — employees call it “the river” — winds around displays meant to encourage shoppers to stay and look around. One near children’s apparel put a handful of kid-size mannequins amid toys and costumes; another, near athletic wear, stocked Chicago Bears and Cubs merchandise.
On trend
There’s also a dedicated “trend spot” near the entrance that gets new merchandise every four to six weeks, Daniels said. Last week, it stocked Harry Potter apparel, books and other merchandise in honor of the 20th anniversary of the series’ publication in the U.S.
The beauty department got a makeover, with space where customers can try out products or get help from a beauty expert. The apparel and technology departments have dedicated employees who have received extra training in those areas, Daniels said.
That should improve the service customers get, but Daniels said she thinks the employees like it too.
“Now you overlook just one area, but you’re really the expert,” she said.
The retailer is also paying attention to feedback as it remodels additional stores. After customers said they liked the room for nursing mothers at one location, all newly remodeled locations will get one, Burns said.
As Target invests in renovating existing stores, it continues to open smaller locations in urban areas, one of which opened in the Wicker Park neighborhood last week. Two more are expected in Rogers Park and Logan Square by the end of 2020.
Target said the new small-format stores will have a similar look, though scaled down. The Wicker Park store, the second-smallest in the chain, is less than one-tenth the size of the Broadview store, but it gives beauty products and grab-and-go food prominent play near the entrance.
Those smaller stores will help Target grow in neighborhoods where its traditional big-box stores just don’t fit, but it also needs to make sure those bigger stores stay relevant, said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.
“People like newness,” he said.
Target says it’s seeing a payoff since the first renovated stores opened last year. Remodeled stores have seen sales rise between 2 and 4 percent, on average, driven by customers making more frequent trips, Mulligan said during the May investor call.
At the Broadview store on Friday, Browder, the returning shopper, said the aisles felt wider, more organized.
