Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 9, 1994 TAG: 9412100023
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-19 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CLAUDINE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The 611-store unit of Dayton Hudson Corp. of Minneapolis will open a store in 1996 in a proposed shopping center in Chesapeake, Donald Goldberg, Chesapeake's economic development director, said earlier this month, although the company has declined to confirm the plans.
And on Tuesday, Dayton Hudson won approval from the Colonial Heights planning commission for a 117,000-square-foot store in the suburb of Richmond.
Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter on Thursday would not confirm the company's interest in Chesapeake and Roanoke. She said the company is a long way from moving into a location.
"Our moving into the Virginia area is nothing definite or specific," Brookter said. "We look at different areas, and we decide where we will go."
Retailers commonly decline to comment on proposed sites until leases are signed.
But a securities analyst and a realty broker familiar with the company say they expect Target to find a home in Roanoke in the next two years. Dayton Hudson has said it plans to open as many as 60 new stores in 1995.
"I could see them opening a couple of stores in Roanoke very easily," said Kenneth Gassman, retail analyst with Davenport & Co. in Richmond "They have real estate people looking right now. They just don't want to let their fellow retailers know when and where they are coming.
"They don't come into a region and open just one store. They storm the area with stores."
The choice locations for a Target store are near Valley View Mall, Gassman said.
"That would be a perfect place for Target," Gassman said. "There are already a lot of retailers, and they typically like strip malls. They also like areas that will draw traffic."
But there are a few problems with a store like Target opening near Valley View, said Mille Moore, a commercial real estate sales manager with Boone & Co. in Roanoke. Access to the store would be difficult without a new interchange from Interstate 581, and Target may not be able to compete with a proposed Wal-Mart superstore to be constructed in the spring.
Target is one of three divisions of Dayton Hudson, which also operates Mervyn's, a California-based chain of moderate-priced department stores, and three full-service department stores - Dayton's in Minneapolis, Hudson's of Detroit, and Chicago-based Marshall Field's. Target operates stores in 32 states and accounts for 61 percent of Dayton Hudson's revenues.
The corporation earned $375 million on revenues of $19.2 billion in 1993.
Target, which calls itself an upscale discount store, is Dayton Hudson's fastest-growing division.
The chain competes with discounters such as Wal-Mart and Kmart, Gassman said, but it differs from other discount stores by offering a department store environment with lower prices. Stores generally are 80,000 to 135,000 square feet. They carry apparel, small appliances, housewares, entertainment equipment, auto accessories, hardware and furniture. Most have pharmacy and food service departments.
by CNB