It seems like every big-box retailer out there is looking tosize down store sizes in efforts to grow in urban areas.Walmart is focusing on smaller stores.Target kind of has plans to do the same.Home Depot is already incorporating the strategy.Onthe surface, it makes sense. Even with higher real estate costs,these chains are moving into high-density areas with significanthousehold incomes.A Reuters article recently interviewssome industry observers who bring up a good point, though:Can Walmart,Target and others execute with smaller stores? Thechains "need to figure out how to make money if they cannot stockas many high-profit margin goods, like clothes, to offset brisksales of low-margin items, like pasta sauce," the report says.Wewould think that companies such as these could make that balancework, but their expansion into urban locales is admittedly slow.Are big boxes on the right track making a push with smaller stores,or are the hurdles too high?ALSO:Tractor Supply's Expansion Plows Through Recession

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.