Home Depot,
Wal-Mart roll out smaller stores
Wed May 2, 2007 12:25PM EDT
By Karen Jacobs
ATLANTA (Reuters) - The
biggest of the big-box retailers
are looking to get a lot smaller
as they try to bring in more
customers in areas where
mega-buildings are neither
practical nor affordable.
Discounter Wal-Mart Stores
Inc. (WMT.N:
Quote,
Profile,
Research, the world's
largest retailer, and home
improvement industry leader Home
Depot Inc. (HD.N:
Quote,
Profile,
Research are rolling out
stores that are much smaller as
their bigger warehouse stores
near a saturation point in the
United States.
This year, Wal-Mart said it
was changing the layout of its
Neighborhood Market stores,
which are typically about 39,000
square feet, to add more frozen
food and bakery items and make
over the health and beauty
departments.
"We are tailoring specific
Neighborhood Markets to provide
the type of product mix that
will be customized," Wal-Mart
spokesman Dave Tovar said.
Wal-Mart, which opened its
first Neighborhood Market in
1998, now has about 112 of these
smaller stores and plans to open
15 to 20 of them over the next
year. Wal-Mart supercenters
average 187,000 square feet.
"The need to continue to grow
the company and open up stores
in places where they're not is
what's driving this," said
George Whalin, president of
Retail Management Consultants.
Last month, Home Depot opened
stores that measure 28,600 to
50,000 square feet, smaller than
its average 105,000-square- foot
format, in California, spokesman
Anthony Wilbert said.
The home improvement chain
will also roll out small-market
stores in Tennessee in July, and
plans to open a 235,000-
square-foot super store in New
Jersey next year.
Whalin said smaller stores
make sense for Home Depot but
pose challenges for Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart "is so used to
having a bigger palate to paint
on and a bigger space to do
things in that I think (a
smaller format) is difficult,"
Whalin said.
He said stores in the
40,000-square-foot range require
retailers to slim down their
offerings. "I don't know that
(Wal-Mart) is convinced they can
do it right," Whalin said.
But he added that
Bentonville, Arkansas-based
Wal-Mart might put more emphasis
on smaller stores now that
Britain's Tesco Plc (TSCO.L:
Quote,
Profile,
Research plans to launch
U.S. grocery stores.
Tesco, Britain's biggest
retailer, will open small
grocery stores in the United
States this year to focus on
ready-to-eat meals and fresh and
environmentally friendly
products.
At Home Depot, Whalin said
smaller stores can work in urban
areas, particularly if they are
served by independent hardware
stores that can't offer the
Atlanta chain's pricing and
selection.
"There's a part of America
that needs the kind of a
hardware store and home center
that Home Depot operates,"
Whalin said.
The New York Post on Monday
reported that analysts say
Wal-Mart is mulling stores as
small as 20,000 square feet.
When asked whether Wal-Mart was
planning even smaller versions,
Tovar said the chain was
currently focused on its
40,000-square-foot format.
Whalin said he would be "real
surprised" if Wal-Mart set up a
20,000 square-foot store.
Home Depot shares were up 38
cents to $38.81 in noon trading
on the New York Stock Exchange
on Wednesday, while Wal-Mart
gained 33 cents to $48.66.
___________________________________________________
DAILY NEWS STAFF
REPORT
April 10, 2007
Roundtable on
Mountain Architecture
What: Our Future Summit discussion
When: Thursday at 7 p.m. Doors open
at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Summit County Community and
Senior Center near Frisco
Moderator: Thomas Davidson, Summit
County commissioner
SUMMIT COUNTY — A community
roundtable discussing mountain
architecture is scheduled for
Thursday at the Summit County
Community and Senior Center near
Frisco.
The talk, organized by Our Future
Summit, will detail how buildings
influence our sense of place and
community, as well as how buildings
influence local water resources. One
of the objectives of the talks are
to help encourage a more sustainable
future with development. According
to Our Future Summit, this can be
achieved by raising awareness,
encouraging greater community
involvement, and providing more
sustainable design opportunities.
Participants in the roundtable will
include:
Thomas Davidson, Summit County
commissioner
Prior to his vacancy appointment to
the Board of County Commissioners in
January, Thomas spent four years as
Vail Resorts Development Company’s
director of development responsible
for management, planning, budgeting,
entitlements, community relations,
envisioning as well as selection of
consultants and contractors.
Previously, he served as manager of
planning for Keystone Real Estate
Developments and manager of
recreation and commercial leasing
for Keystone Resorts.
Mr. Davidson is co-chair of Summit
County Early Childhood Options, a
board member of Keystone
Neighbourhood Company and an
advisory board member for both the
Keystone Science School and the
Snake River Wastewater Treatment
Plant.
Thomas’s first job in Summit County
was as a liftie at Arapahoe Basin,
intending to stay only for the ski
season. Like many of us, he never
left.
Marty Zeller, Conservation
Partners
Marty Zeller is President of
Conservation Partners, Inc., a land
conservation and rural planning firm
specializing in community-based
strategies that protect lands with
high conservation or natural
resource values. Conservation
Partners works with landowners and
land trusts throughout the Rocky
Mountain West to develop
conservation plans and strategies
tailored to financial, family, tax
and conservation objectives. CP has
assisted many communities and
counties throughout the West in
developing open land plans and
implementation programs to protect
special community resources in ways
that constructively engage
landowners. A number of these plans
have received regional and national
awards. In addition, Conservation
Partners works with half a dozen
charitable foundations to develop
programs that improve the capacity
of land saving organizations and
promote more effective land
stewardship.
In 2003, Marty also established
Colorado Conservation Connection, a
tax credit exchange company that
matches sellers and buyers of
conservation easement tax credits
under Colorado’s innovative tax
incentive program. Prior to starting
Conservation Partners, Marty was a
principal at Design Workshop, a
large land planning and landscape
architecture firm. He also spent ten
years as vice president of two
statewide land trusts, Colorado Open
Lands and the Vermont Land Trust. He
is frequently asked to speak on
conservation and land use issues in
the West.
Townsend Anderson, City of
Steamboat Springs
After nearly 35 years of involvement
with historic preservation and
community development, Townsend
Anderson has jumped into political
life as a City Councilor in
Steamboat Springs. Before pursuing
elected office, he was associated
with the Rocky Mountain Chapter of
the American Leadership Forum. Prior
to becoming involved in leadership
development, he developed programs
for broader citizen engagement in
community decision-making at The
Orton Family Foundation and with his
own company, Tipping Point
Productions.
While at The Orton Family
Foundation, where he was hired in
October of 1998 to open the western
office in Steamboat Springs, Mr.
Anderson began his exploration into
the relationships among leadership
development, civic infrastructure,
social capital, civic engagement and
community building, and the role of
information systems and policy
support tools in facilitated,
collaborative public processes and
local decision-making. Underlying
all else in communities that
function at above average levels and
embrace innovation and creativity
from all sectors and perspectives,
is the common element called
leadership.
It is this humble concept that led
to the formation of Tipping Point
Productions in 2003, and it
continues to drive Mr. Anderson’s
work which now involves character-
or heart & soul-based planning and
using computer-assisted policy
support tools to forecast probable
consequences of local decisions.
At The Orton Family Foundation,
“Towny” was responsible for
initiating several programs,
including the western initiatives
for the Community Mapping Program
and Community Video, the Citizens
Resource Center and Community
Information System which has become
a successful web-based and citizen
driven service, the Community
Agricultural Alliance, and the
development of the Beta and Limited
Release programs for CommunityViz™,
the Foundation’s planning and land
use software. From 2001 – 2003, he
was Director of Development for The
Orton Family Foundation. In this
position, Mr. Anderson built
operating and funding partnerships
with key organizations to help reach
communities throughout the country.
Before joining the Foundation, Mr.
Anderson served Governor Howard
Dean’s Administration for three
years as the first full-time
appointed Vermont State Historic
Preservation Officer. Mr. Anderson
was one of the principal authors of
Vermont’s Downtown Legislation, the
first of its kind in the country,
addressing economic and regulatory
incentives for rehabilitation and
redevelopment in Vermont’s small
cities and towns. He initiated the
heritage tourism program and
implemented a ten-year development
plan for the State-owned Historic
Sites. During his tenure, Mr.
Anderson successfully promoted full
integration of Vermont’s historic
resources into the business of
community development, changing the
culture (and perception) of the
Division from regulatory to resource
promotion.
Prior to his work with the Dean
administration, Mr. Anderson
redeveloped historic properties,
owning restoration contracting,
redevelopment and downtown
revitalization consulting firms over
a 20 year period. Two of his
redevelopment projects won National
Trust for Historic Preservation
Honor Awards. He has written and
lectured on historic preservation
and its role in community building.
Mr. Anderson served as a Director of
the National Conference of State
Historic Preservation Officers and
Chair of the Vermont Historic
Preservation Advisory Council. He
has also served on the National
Board of the American Leadership
Forum. He was an independent
scholar, cum laude graduate of
Middlebury College.
He is a graduate of both the
Preservation Leadership program of
the National Trust for Historic
Preservation and the American
Leadership Forum.
He lives in Steamboat Springs, CO
with his wife, Jodee and their two
children. Jodee owns The Fiber
Exchange located in downtown
Steamboat Springs. Towny was elected
to the City Council in November,
2005, serves on the Board of Main
Street Steamboat Springs and the
Steamboat Springs Economic
Development Council, and co-chairs
the Vision 2030 Steering Committee
which will attempt to capture the
heart & soul elements that so
strongly tie people to this place
called the Yampa Valley.
Marc Hogan, Summit Combined
Housing Authority board
Marc joined Baker + Hogan + Houx in
1979 and shortly thereafter became a
Principal of the firm. Prior to
joining the firm, Marc was a general
contractor for large custom homes in
Austin, Texas. His construction
experience allows him to work
closely with owners and contractors
during the construction phases.
Mr. Hogan has been project planner
and architect on many projects in
the Rocky Mountain area including
master planned land developments,
large condominium hotels, custom
homes, affordable housing, and
various recreational facilities such
as health clubs, ski area structures
and golf course support facilities.
Marc serves on the Summit County
Housing Authority as a citizen
representative, the Summit County
Board of Review as its chairman and
the Silverthorne Economic
Development Task force as a member.
He is a former director of the
Breckenridge Resort Chamber and
member of the Summit County Housing
Working Group.
Mr. Hogan is a graduate of Texas
Tech University with a Bachelor of
Architecture degree with high
honors.
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