Walmart Neighborhood Market opening Wednesday

Charlotte's first Walmart Neighborhood Market, a smaller store from the world's largest retailer, is holding its grand opening Wednesday on Independence Boulevard.





The store is set to open at 7:30 a.m., with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. There will also be product samplings and giveaways at the store throughout the day.


Store manager David Thomas inside the new
Walmart Neighborhood Market

 

The store is 51,000 square feet, on the large end for a grocery store but only about a quarter the size of a Walmart SuperCenter. Grocery and other consumable goods account for more than half of Walmart's revenue, so the Neighborhood Markets take the quickest-turning parts of the store and move them into one location that's more manageable for customers to shop.

Although Neighborhood Markets account for just a small fraction of the more than 3,000 Walmart stores nationwide, there are now 230 of them. For perspective, that's more than the total number of Harris Teeter stores.

The store on Independence Blvd. is the second Walmart Neighborhood Market in the state. The first was opened last year in Cary, and Walmart plans to open more in the future across North Carolina. Walmart has hired about 90 people to work at the new Charlotte store. The store will be open daily from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.



View Larger Map

Books-A-Million closing in Cotswold Village

Books-A-Million is closing its Cotswold location, and the store is starting a going-out-of-business sale Friday.

An astute reader forwarded us the store's email blast. The 16,000-square-foot store is liquidating its inventory and will likely close in mid-March.

Books-A-Million is the third bookstore in the area to close in the last few years. Joseph Beth Booksellers closed in 2010, followed by Borders in 2011. The closure of Books-A-Million will leave Barnes & Noble as the last of the four chain bookstores in the area.

 

 

View Larger Map

Ann Taylor concept store coming to SouthPark

A new Ann Taylor boutique will open in SouthPark mall on April 19, the company said.

The new store will have a number of  features to distinguish it from Ann Taylor's existing stores. SouthPark currently has a traditional Ann Taylor store, and the company said this will be its first concept store in Charlotte.

"Inspired by a stylish modern contemporary home, the new Ann Taylor boutiques provide an intimate shopping chic, warm and inviting," the company said in its press release.

"The store's features include:

  White washed maple hardwood floors, luxurious crystal chandeliers, modern tufted furniture and sleek feminine fixtures inspired by the ultimate closet.

· Wardrobing niches that allow for strong fashion stories as well as a broad assortment of product.

· Styling rooms that feature unique floral wall coverings, luxe ottomans, plush carpeting, and a new proprietary lighting system with flattering backlit mirrors.

· Curated fashion presentations and expert styling services add to the store experience making shopping easy and fun

· Dedicated stylists on staff and available for both walk-ins and by appointment to assist clients in putting together perfect individualized looks for any occasion."
 

Wal-Mart readies Charlotte's first Neighborhood Market

Workers are building shelves, stocking goods and preparing Charlotte's first Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market to open, as the mega-retailer continues to push for more of the region's grocery market.


The store's interior

The 51,000-square-foot store is set to open in about 2 1/2 weeks on Independence Boulevard, at Village Lake Drive. The store is in the Independence Square shopping center, just a few storefronts down from the international Super G Mart, in a former Best Buy location.

The store is a fraction of the size of a SuperCenter, and carries a full line of grocery items, along with a bakery, deli, pharmacy and other supermarket services.


Signage coming soon

"You'll get the same SuperCenter pricing, in a smaller format," said store manager David Thomas. The idea behind the Neighborhood Markets, which Wal-Mart first began opening in 1999, is to strip away most of the SuperCenter's goods and offer a smaller store with the core products customers buy most often. What you end up with is, more or less, a traditional supermarket with the Wal-Mart machinery behind it.

Wal-Mart has more than 200 Neighborhood Market stores. That's a small fraction of its more than 3,000 SuperCenters, but Wal-Mart has been opening Neighborhood Markets at an accelerating rate. Wal-mart opened 27 in fiscal 2012, up from two the year before and five in 2010.

Talk about low prices!

The company recently opened its first Neighborhood Market in North Carolina in Cary, and is also building a store in Greer, S.C.

A look at Wal-Mart's annual report from 2012 shows how important grocery items are to the business. Grocery items made up 55 percent of Wal-Mart's total sales for the year, up from 53 percent in 2011. No other category of items came close. The other categories are entertainment (12 percent of sales), hardlines (10 percent), health and wellness (11 percent), apparel (7 percent), and home (5 percent).

At the Independence Boulevard location, Wal-Mart has hired about 90 people. The company is spending more than $3 million renovating the store, according to county building permits.

Wal-Mart has been going after the region's former grocery market leader, Harris Teeter, with an agressive advertising campaign that includes side-by-side price comparisons for a basket of goods. The company overtook Harris Teeter in 2011 as the No. 1 grocer in the region. Food Lion comes in at No. 3.

The Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is the newest entrant to Charlotte's grocery market, which has seen a slew of new stores over the past several years. Publix is building stores, Whole Foods is finally open, Harris Teeter debuted its 201central stores and is rebuilding other stores throughout Charlotte. Family Dollar has added hundreds of food items, and Target has overhauled its stores to greatly expand their grocery selections. Food Lion is overhauling its stores and trying to win customers back.

They're all competing for a share of your food dollars, and with razor-thin profit margins and more competitors than just three years ago, don't expect the competition to slow anytime soon.


View Larger Map

National Retail Federation: Sales growth to slow in 2013

The National Retail Federation delivered a forecast for sales in 2013 that can best be summed up in one word: blah.

Executives at the national trade group used words such as "tepid," "sub-par" and "subdued" to describe what they see in the coming year. The group is predicting retail sales will rise 3.4 percent in 2013, down from a 4.2 percent increase in 2012.

The list of challenges the NRF enumerated is long, and familiar. The 2 point payroll tax increase lowered most people's take-home income, the fiscal cliff and possible looming budget cuts spooked many people, job growth and income growth remain slow, and the economy overall is strolling along at a leisurely 2 percent growth rate.

But although the NRF isn't exactly breaking out the champagne to celebrate, the group is also emphasizing that many companies are better positioned to deal with slow growth than they were before the start of the recession. Sales actually fell more than 3 percent in 2009, slamming retailers. Since then, many have kept leaner inventories and changed how they promote and manage their goods to avoid disastrous unplanned markdowns.

"It's still  pretty good, all things considered," said NRF chief executive Matthew Shay.

And individual sectors could do much better than the average. Discounters such as Matthews-based Family Dollar could see their sales continue to grow quickly, as people still seek to save money and look to trade down. Home improvement stores, such as Mooresville-based Lowe's Inc., are also looking forward to a year of good growth as the housing market continues to improve. While larger electronics such as big-screen TVs are struggling, small electronics such as tablets and cell phones are selling at a rapid clip.

E-commerce is also forecast to do well, growing from 14 percent of total sales last year to 18 percent of total sales this year.

Lowe's hiring 45,000 seasonal workers for spring rush

Mooresville-based Lowe's, Inc. is hiring 45,000 temporary workers to help staff its stores for the spring rush, the company said Tuesday.

Seasonal employees work about 20 to 25 hours a week at Lowe's stores. Lowe's also said it plans to hire 9,000 permanent part-time employees.

Spring is the equivalent of the Christmas season for home improvement retailers, that magical time when everyone is motivated to rehab their yards and finally start some of those projects they've been putting off during the frigid winter months.

Lowe's also cut back some of its full-time employees last year in favor of more flexible, part-time workers to increase staffing at busy times. The company laid off about 1,700 middle managers in its stores, or about one per location.

In its news release, Lowe's said: The permanent part-time positions include store associates focused on direct interaction and expertise for customers. Employees in the permanent positions will be scheduled to work during peak weekday shopping times.

“We are focused on providing customers with outstanding service,” said Scott Purvis, vice president, human resources, operations. “We are looking for candidates who are experienced in any of the home improvement trades, and, most importantly, those who are committed to providing Lowe’s customers an exceptional service experience.”

You can see and apply for available jobs here.

Belmont Food Lion to close as Delhaize looks for growth

A Food Lion in Belmont is closing, as the company continues grappling with sluggish sales and stiff competition.

Food Lion is owned by Belgian supermarket giant Delhaize Group. The Belmont store, on Park Street, is one of several dozen stores that Delhaize said it will close last week. The company announced the closures as part of its regular earnings release.

Delhaize is also closing 34 Sweetbay supermarkets in Florida, as well as seven Food Lion locations outside the Charlotte area. Each Food Lion employs 35 to 40 people.There will be about 1,120 Food Lion locations after the most recent closures.

There were just over 100 Sweetbay locations (none in the Charlotte area), so the closings announced represent about a third of the total.

It's the second mass-closure in just over a year. Last January, the company shuttered 113 Food Lion stores, as well as six Bottom Dollar and seven Bloom stores.

Delhaize also shook up upper management at Salisbury-headquartered Food Lion late last year. The company pushed out Food Lion president Cathy Green Burns and shuffled other top managers.

The company has been trying to revitalize sales at Food Lion, its largest and best-known U.S. supermarket chain. Food Lion has refreshed and updated hundreds of its stores, including those in Charlotte, and changed its produce practices to enhance freshness.

Food Lion has been seeing its market share slip in the Charlotte region. In 2011, Food Lion fell from 19.2 percent of the market to 17.7 percent, according to data from Chain Store Guide.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/07/19/3390740/food-lion-rebrands-charlotte-stores.html#storylink=cpy

Delhaize remains a huge company: It's 2012 sales topped $30.2 billion, up 2.9 percent from the year before. But sales at stores open a year or more in the U.S. - a key indicator of a retailer's health - slumped 0.8 percent.

And competition is likely to only get tougher: Publix is expanding north, further into Food Lion's markets, and  Wal-Mart is investing more into its grocery offerings and expanding its Neighborhood Market concept.

And all these store closings and management shakeups aren't cheap. Delhaize is taking more than $173 million worth of charges related to the latest round of store closures, and almost $20 million worth of charges stemming from the management changes, including Green Burns.

Delhaize CEO Pierre Olivier-Beckers said the latest closures will help the company. "These actions, coupled with the portfolio review announced last year, enhance the health of our store network and create a solid base on which to go forward," he said, in a statement. "We remain determined to accelerate the transformation of our business."


View Larger Map