COMING TO A NEIGHBORHOOD NEAR YOU; BIG RETAILERS' SMALL SHOPS PRESSURING MOM-AND-POPS.Byline: Rachel Beck Rachel Beck is an American reporter for the Lebanon Express in Lebanon, Oregon. Born 5 April, 1982, she was raised in Sisters, Oregon. In 2000, she graduated from Sisters High School[1]. She graduated from Vassar College with the class of 2004. Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. They've barely survived the shopping malls and the giant discounters, but now America's small neighborhood merchants are facing a new threat - and it's right down the block. Big corporations such as Home Depot The Home Depot (NYSE: HD) is an American retailer of home improvement and construction products and services. Headquartered in Vinings, just outside Atlanta in unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, Home Depot employs more than 355,000 people and operates 2,164 big-box , Wal-Mart and Sears are opening up compact new stores right on Main Street, targeting shoppers who don't have the time or desire to brave the mega-marts. ``Their big stores have knocked out 60 percent of the competition,'' said Joe Dobrzynski, who owns Eighteen Lumber lumber, term for timber that has been cut into boards for use as a building material. The major steps in producing lumber involve logging (the felling and preparation of timber for shipment to sawmills), sawing the logs into boards, grading the boards according to in East Brunswick, N.J., a short drive from no fewer than five Home Depots. ``We are still here, but there aren't too many of us left. It's scary,'' he said. The retail exodus from America's downtowns began decades ago as merchants yearned for bigger stores with more merchandise. While millions of shoppers enjoy the vast supply at these superstores This is a list of superstores by country. Multi-national
A recent survey of 1,000 people by the retail consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a Kurt Salmon Associates found that 21 percent shopped more at stores in their neighborhood this year than they did in 1997, while more than 20 percent said they spent less time at large shopping centers shopping center, a concentration of retail, service, and entertainment enterprises designed to serve the surrounding region. The modern shopping center differs from its antecedents—bazaars and marketplaces—in that the shops are usually amalgamated into or strip malls strip mall n. A shopping complex containing a row of various stores, businesses, and restaurants that usually open onto a common parking lot. Noun 1. . ``The competitive advantage doesn't mean just price and selection anymore, but convenience is also very important,'' said Walt Johnson, managing editor of Home Improvement Data magazine in Indianapolis. Now, big retailers have begun tapping the neighborhood market. Since late 1997, Sears has opened 13 compact stores mostly in communities that aren't a quick drive to any of their full-line stores. Like its bigger stores, a majority of the selling space is dedicated to apparel, footwear and home furnishings. In doing so, Sears is returning to its roots. Years ago, many small towns included a Sears store that carried a sampling of the retail giant's wares and a spot to order the rest from its massive - and now defunct DEFUNCT. A term used for one that is deceased or dead. In some acts of assembly in Pennsylvania, such deceased person is called a decedent. (q.v.) - catalog. Wal-Mart, best known for its huge superstores, is testing the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is chain of grocery stores launched by Wal-Mart in 1998. These stores are designed to be the opposite of vastly larger superstores. These smaller stores are meant to "woo shoppers with easier parking, less crowded aisles and quicker checkout. in four Arkansas towns. The supermarket-drugstores will be less than one-quarter the size of its regular stores. Next year, Home Depot will begin testing its Villager's Hardware concept with four stores in New Jersey. The stores will be only a third of the size of its warehouse-style Home Depots and will carry mostly merchandise for small home projects. ``Finally, these retailers are beginning to see that people don't want to travel to shop. They are too busy, but that doesn't mean they don't want to spend,'' said Walter Loeb, who runs the retail consulting firm Loeb Associates. Price is clearly the biggest threat posed by the new mini chain stores. They can charge less than their neighbors because the giant corporations supporting them have better purchasing power Purchasing Power 1. The value of a currency expressed in terms of the amount of goods or services that one unit of money can buy. Purchasing power is important because, all else being equal, inflation decreases the amount of goods or services you'd be able to purchase. 2. with suppliers. NEIGHBORHOOD DEPOT Home Depot, the leader in the home improvement retailing industry, is planning to open smaller stores to compete with neighborhood hardware stores. A look at the company's sales and stock price over the past three years: SALES 1998 (x) $24.16 billion 1997 (x) $19.55 billion 1996 (x) $15.47 billion (x) Fiscal year ends in February STOCK PRICE Dec. 9, 1998: $54.63 CAPTION(S): Photo, 2 Charts PHOTO (Color) A motorist drives past the Sherwood, Ark., Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, which is aimed at customers wary of the superstore version. Mike Wintroath/Associated Press CHART: (1--2) NEIGHBORHOOD DEPOT (see text) Associated Press |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion