Reinventing the Corner Store: Can Target Disrupt Walgreens?

Back in the dark days of the last recession, big box brands like Walmart, Staples, Walgreens, and Target took advantage of the high inventory of smaller, neighborhood storefronts and experimented with small-scale versions of their bigger selves.

It was actually an inspired idea but once the economy took off, most abandoned the concepts and consolidated their efforts back into expanding their high volume stores.

Not so with Target, which in 2012 developed CityTarget stores designed to appeal to urban shoppers. The average size of a CityTarget is 80,000 square feet compared to their full-size 100,000 square foot stores.

 The success of CityTarget stores has led the company to expand into other city centers and further dial down their concept into “TargetExpress.”

This year the brand will open 15 more stores including eight Target Express locations. Like the CityTarget concept, the goal with TargetExpress is to deliver very customized merchandise solutions to a specific market in retail locations they previously could never consider.

So why the rush to move into a format more commonly owned by the likes of Circle K and 7-11?

Maybe because Walgreens has wasted no time in rolling out all manner of concept stores, whether big, lavish flagship stores with lavish beauty departments and sushi bars, or their “Corner W” concept. Since the company purchased Duane Reade in 2010 ($for 1.1billion), the brand has made short work of aggressively building out its stores and moving boldly into the prepared foods category.

>> Read our previous post on Walgreen’s move into food

The first TargetExpress store opened last summer in Minneapolis and was only steps away from the University of Minnesota campus, so it came stocked with grab-and-go food, an edited assortment of grocery items, and the kinds of electronics students might need like microwaves, toaster ovens, and blow dryers.

The laggard in the overall market continues to be CVS, which has been slow to evolve their store concepts across the board, and incidentally was the last to eliminate tobacco sales. Both Walgreens and Target jumped on the no-tobacco bandwagon in order to further rationalize their pharmacy and wellness concepts.

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