RETAIL STORES Companies hope to sell buyers on new plans

Customers are calling the shots as retail giants try to meet their demands.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
It's a never-ending challenge in the retail industry -- how to build a better box that draws shoppers while trumping the competition.
At Sears, Roebuck and Co., the answer could be bigger is better, as it mulls a new store concept twice the size of its traditional shopping mall-anchored format.
For Kmart Corp., the solution includes the color lime, brighter lights and wider aisles.
And while those retailers struggle to re-energize their brands to win back customers, Home Depot is looking for new markets after dotting the nation with more than 1,560 giant home-improvement stores. Home Depot is compacting its concept into a new urban format that is roughly half the size of its standard store.
Trying out different concepts and ideas is not new. Successful retailers are always tinkering around with ways to improve stores. Still, it is unusual for a major retailer to build something new from the ground up.
Reason for change
The leading reason for the dramatic changes, said retail strategist Wendy Liebmann, is that so many retailers sell the same merchandise. After all, there are at least a dozen places to buy a towel.
What makes retailers like Target Corp. and Kohl's Corp. rise to the top is the ability to showcase an item in an environment that not only draws in shoppers, but also makes them want to buy other merchandise.
That kind of competition means retailers must differentiate their stores and the shopping experience to stand out among peers.
"You've got to take it up a notch," says Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail in New York. "How else are you going to get consumers into your stores?"
Adding to that pressure is a consumer who gives a limited number of chances for a retailer to get it right.
"What we're seeing is such a noticeable shift in consumer spending," says Tony Camilletti, a senior vice president at JGA Inc., a retail design and brand strategy firm in Southfield, Mich. "Retail giants are chasing customers instead of leading them. Customers are calling the shots."
Sears' strategy
Sears is rethinking the future placement of its stores because fewer consumers are going to traditional shopping malls. Rather, the bulk of new retail construction is taking place at strip centers where several big-box retailers are clustered together.
With sales slipping at Sears' full-line stores, which are those attached to a shopping center, executives at the Hoffman Estates, Ill., headquarters are looking for a better way to snag shoppers. Now Sears plans to build five prototype stores that will have much more than the usual array of appliances and apparel.
The first will open this fall in West Jordan, Utah.
"If we are in a growth mindset, we won't be able to grow in a mall," says Linda Blakley, a Sears spokeswoman.
Kmart
At Kmart, which shed its Chapter 11 bankruptcy status last week, customers wanted stores without clutter, aisles that could accommodate two shopping carts side by side, peppier displays and snappy signs. So, the Troy, Mich., retailer transformed four stores in the Peoria, Ill., market and one in metro Detroit into its "store of the future."
Lime green replaced the traditional red and blue palette. Main aisles were stretched to 9 and 10 feet across, while shelves within departments were widened to 5 and 6 feet.
Department signs were assigned logos -- a window for window treatments, a brush and mascara wand for beauty care. Merchandise displays were added throughout the stores to show how various products can be combined in the kitchen or bathroom.
So far, four of the five revamped stores have seen an uptick in sales, says Jack Ferry, a company spokesman. The remaining one has posted inconsistent results from week to week.
Home Depot is using its latest design to get to the heart of a critical consumer mass. But for the home improvement retailer that meant condensing its sprawling store layout into a multi-level store.
"It's not a lesser Home Depot," says John Simley, a company spokesman. "It's a highly focused Home Depot. We had to micro-merchandise to outfit the store with products that were needed in the market and none that weren't needed."
That means an outdoors area focused on container gardening, limited types of lumber and smaller appliances better suited for the smaller kitchens in apartments and condos.