Wal-Mart moves to the mall - From mainstream to mainstay
Source: Providence Journal
                                          

After decades of drawing crowds of shoppers to rural locations across America, of being the destination retailer that rarely needed the support of another store nearby, Wal-Mart is now opening stores where it never built before.

In the shopping mall.

The huge mass merchandiser opened its first area anchor store Oct. 24, at Swansea Mall. A second mall location will be added in January at Rhode Island Mall.

Both centers are happy to have the world's largest retailer as their tenant, but Wal-Mart rubbing shoulders with Macy's and the Limited? What will shoppers think?

Turns out, they think it's great - convenient, affordable and just a stroll from the food court.

"It's nice when you're in the mall and you want to pick up things that the other stores don't have. If you want a pair of socks or a can of paint," said Joyce Foley of Fall River, who stopped by Wal- Mart in Swansea last week to buy some toys and Christmas wrap before hitting the Gap. "In a specialty store, you're just going in for clothes."

The idea of Wal-Mart at enclosed malls isn't new it operates stores at about 50 malls across the country. The trend simply reflects changes in consumer shopping patterns that have been in effect for years.

Short on time and keen for a value, even high-income consumers are cross-shopping getting their good clothes at Macy's or Filene's and their necessities at mass merchandise chains such as Wal-Mart. The logic is common sense as much as dollars and cents: Why pay a fortune for hangers and mittens?

And by being in a mall, Wal-Mart saves shoppers that extra trip for a can of Comet.

"You see a huge shift where customers are more pressed for time," said Keith Morris, community affairs manager of Wal-Mart's Northeast division. "The Wal-Mart formula is even more important today because of how the economy is."

By locating in a traditional mall, Wal-Mart said it is simply pouncing on opportunities presented by a shake-out in the retail industry. At Rhode Island Mall, it takes the place of a former Filene's and is part of a mall-wide reinvention that will include a Kohl's next October.

"What they're trying to do is reposition the mall as a shopping destination for the value shopper," said Janice Pascone, interim general manager and marketing director at Rhode Island Mall. "For the middle-income shopper who wants great value."

At Swansea Mall, Wal-Mart is replacing an out-of-business Caldor and joins mid-range department store Macy's, as well as the Limited, American Eagle Outfitters and Sears.

"Traffic has been great, I think the market anxiously awaited Wal- Mart's arrival," said Swansea marketing director Nancy Spencer.

And why not? Wal-Mart has been stealing market share from other retailers for years. A lot of department stores are no longer performing like anchors, because they aren't generating the sales, said Wendy Liebmann, president of the New York consulting firm WSL Strategic Retail.

According to WSL, 85 percent of consumers 18 to 70 shopped at department stores in 1996. This year that percentage dropped to 72.

"The traditional department stores as we know them, whether JC Penney or Nordstrom, are not drawing the same traffic as before," she said. "Having Wal-Mart become the department store anchor is a very viable option."

Besides, she said, to many people, Wal-Mart is a department store.

"You've got to look for the best buys and that's what we do," said Fall River shopper Carol Cordeiro, who stopped at Wal-Mart last week to compare prices of a turkey cooker with those at Macy's.

Wal-Mart's Morris said it is getting harder for the retailer to define its typical customer. The retailer's parking lots are full of 1978 Chevy Novas as well as 2002 BMWs.

But for all its ability to draw shoppers from other stores and to far-off locations, he said Wal-Mart does gain something by being in a mall.

"We can get a definite benefit by being located near other retailers," he said.

Lisa Fasig covers retail and banking for the Journal and can be contacted at lfasig@projo.com