Target's New Larger Format Stores a Challenge to Walmart, If The Economy Holds Up

The highlights I reviewed from their press release:

- Cleaner

- More Open

- More Same-Day Services

- More Convenient

- Better Back-room Fulfillment

- More Space for Brand Partnerships

- Wider Assortment

Sounds like the formula for a modern store I would want to visit, and if the economy holds up, it should work out for them. 150k sq ft stores, which while 20k larger than the chain average, is about 3-5x larger than the stores they have been consistently building since before the pandemic -- around 30k, but those were mostly in urban areas.

Make no mistake, this is a big change in strategy. With it, which one of these things do you think they are saying?

- Our primary urban centers are mostly taken care of.

- We see more people continuing to migrate to suburbs over time, and away from the big cities.

- We don't see anyone who delivers our experience in the suburbs.

- People see large retailers like Target more as "the mall" these days and we need more space for assortment and new brand partnerships

Perhaps some of all of these?

I think it's most intriguing that this gives them space for assortment expansion (CPG in particular) and other brand partnerships that will help get shoppers in the door, and more frequently.