Target is opening 23 new stores this month, with grand openings scheduled for Sunday.
The Minneapolis-based retailer has significantly scaled back new store openings in 2009, from 114 in 2008 to 75 planned this year.
Seventeen of the stores will contain “expanded food options” and two will feature full-fledged grocery stores. Analysts believe groceries are a key reason why Wal-Mart has been outperforming Target during the past few quarters.
The new stores are spread out from Hawaii to Massachusetts. The only Midwest site is Cedar Falls, Iowa.
From the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal: SuperTarget planned for Woodbury now on hold
Target recently informed JMW that it would not proceed with the project unless it receives “a pretty significant discount” from its previously negotiated deal, JMW Principal Mark Johnson said.
“We’re dumbfounded. We’ve been working on this deal for four-and-a-half years. I don’t know how, all of a sudden, the numbers don’t work.”
JMW Development Principal Mark Johnson
Maybe Target has lowered their retail sales estimates for the store? Just saying …