The Washington Post: “Across the country, retailers such as Walmart, Target, Macy’s and Nordstrom are experimenting with ways to distill their inventory into smaller, more-focused locations. The shift comes, analysts say, as Americans flock from the suburbs to city centers, where space is at a premium. Big-box stores on the outskirts of town are no longer convenient nor practical for millennials with tiny apartments and no car. Target alone is opening 30 smaller stores by the end of the year, doubling its presence near urban areas and college campuses.”
Mike Paglia of Kantar Retail comments: “That big weekly stock-up where you fill up the back of the car? That’s very much boomer mentality that millennials aren’t buying into.”
“Sales at smaller-format stores are projected to grow 3.9 percent annually until 2022, outpacing 0.8 percent sales growth for their big-box counterparts, according to recent projections from Kantar Retail. Stores smaller than 20,000 square feet account for $612 billion in annual sales, with that figure slated to grow 21 percent to $741 billion in the next five years.”