Walmart Neighborhood Market targets shoppers comfortable at smaller stores
What should shoppers expect when the new Bluffton Walmart opens?
Less supercenter, more supermarket.
The retail giant's planned location at Bluffton Parkway and S.C. 170 is part of its overall push to go smaller. The store, called a Walmart Neighborhood Market, is about a quarter the size of a typical Walmart and similar to a standard grocery store.
It's one of several hundred that will open across the country this year to compete with those traditional supermarkets, retail analysts said Tuesday.
"It's what they are focusing on this year for growth," said Brian List, senior market research manager at Chain Store Guide, which tracks retail sales. " They are building fewer supercenters and looking more at the small-store format."
In Beaufort County, that means direct competition with Publix and Kroger.
Publix accounted for 24 percent of grocery-store sales in Beaufort County in 2013, according to data from Chain Store Guide.
The area's three Walmart Supercenters -- in Hardeeville, Beaufort and on Hilton Head Island -- were second, with 20 percent.
Kroger finished third, with 9 percent. Those numbers, however, reflect only one month of sales at its new Shelter Cove Towne Centre store on Hilton Head Island. It opened in late 2013.
List said 2014 data will be published in March.
While Walmart has a strong showing in groceries at its supercenters, the shift to the market approach is designed to attract those customers who may pass it by now.
The company is missing mid-week consumers who are " hitting dollar stores and other grocers" for a carton of milk or box of pasta, retail analyst Ken Perkins said in a Tuesday email.
Like most grocery stores, Neighborhood Markets offer produce and a bakery, as well as a deli, pet supplies, beauty products, household items and a drive-thru pharmacy, company spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg said in an email. She said the stores average about 95 employees.
In the past year, Walmart has opened or announced it will build stores in Greer, Rock Hill and Summerville.
The company currently operates more than 450 markets across the U.S., Henneberg said.
In a February news release, the company said it would build 270 or 300 such stores before the end of fiscal year 2014.
Construction in Bluffton is expected to start July 15 and be completed by the end of the year, developer Sal Biondo said Monday.
It's part of a larger shopping center that will include a Walmart gas station and about 18,000 square feet of commercial space.
The company is betting that smaller will mean bigger sales.
The markets are aimed at the shopper "who doesn't want to wander around a 200,000-square-foot store," said List.
Follow reporter Dan Burley on Twitter at twitter.com/IPBG_Dan.
Related content:
- Walmart grocery store to anchor new Bluffton shopping center, Jan. 12, 2015
This story was originally published January 13, 2015 at 7:35 PM with the headline "Walmart Neighborhood Market targets shoppers comfortable at smaller stores."