For Wal-Mart and Target, the battle for South Florida centers on location, location - and groceries

Sun Sentinel ^ | May 22 2005 | Karen-Janine Cohen

[Caipirabob]

Near North Congress Avenue in Lake Park, Target and Wal-Mart both plan the souped-up versions of their stores called, respectively, Super Target and the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Expected to open next year, the stores in north Palm Beach County will be roughly a mile apart.

It's just one example of how the retail giants are vying to snag South Florida sites as the population continues to boom and commercial-development land disappears. Their expansion is not without opposition. Some communities are concerned about store size and the impact on traffic and nearby residential areas. Yet it's the lure of grocery dollars that is driving Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Minneapolis-headquartered Target Corp. to stake larger claims in South Florida, where both plan currently to add only superstores to their lineups.

The superstores are different from their traditional counterparts in that they have full-line groceries with prices designed in many instances to undercut competitors such as Publix or Winn-Dixie. Their appeal includes the promise of one-stop shopping, from cantaloupes to curtains.

[Caipirabob]

Well, competition is essential in a capitalist society. The way things are shaping up here in SoFlo, we are going to see many more poeple become concerned with the bottom line ($) and favor the less expensive competitor. I say this now primarily due to the influx of new Floridians, the current job market and the spiralling out of sight real estate market. In SoFlo, a lateral move in housing means a severe downgrade if you've lived in the sam area for more than two years. In five years housing prices have tripled while salaries are not maintaining a similar pace. So it's waaay more expensive for the people coming down here to live.

I don't blame them for coming down either, it's paradise. But I digress. My point is that yeah, of course people are going to shop for the lower price. Walmart has a major advantage in not dealing with Unions. If the grocers and other vendors had the same advantage, I'm sure they'd be more competative. Perhaps the focus should be on destroying unions rather than complaining about Walmarts ability to avoid them and consequently charge less for products.

OH, one final thing. Winn Dixie is bankrupt because they suck to no end. Their stores are filthy, service is non-existent and they smell. Winn Dixie could only succeed in an environment devoid of competition.

[MikefromOhio]

I tell you what, the little bit of time I spent in Tampa, I saw ONE Winn Dixie but a ton of Publix and Kash n Karry's or whatever they are...

the parking lot at the WD was empty too and that was before they declared bankruptcy....

[Popman]

Bump to read later. this topic is right up my alley.

Gotta work, though

[Vinnie]

I was in the Palm Beach area a month ago.
We went to a Publix thinking it would be the wide aisled, clean, customer service oriented store I remember living in Miami 20+ yrs. ago.
What a disappointment.
As for groceries from Walmart, ugh. One thing I demand at at grocery store is good fresh produce. The one time I visited a super Walmart cured me. I'll wilt my own lettuce thankyou.

[Gabz]

Perhaps the focus should be on destroying unions rather than complaining about Walmarts ability to avoid them and consequently charge less for products.

That makes perfect sense, to all but the Walmart bashers.

[Gabz]

OH, one final thing. Winn Dixie is bankrupt because they suck to no end. Their stores are filthy, service is non-existent and they smell. Winn Dixie could only succeed in an environment devoid of competition.

In other words, they haven't changed a bit in 30 years.

[FlJoePa]

I read a story the other day about Lowes buying up property on Indiantown Rd. in Jupiter that Target badly wanted.

As to your housing prices point, you're right. Had I not bought in the early 90's, I couldn't afford to buy a house now. The only downside is that to cash in on all the equity I've accrued, I'd have to sell and leave the area - or at least move inland away from the beach.

[Gabz]

I have encountered the same problem with the produce on a few occassions as well. So I was pleasantly surprised when I was in Walmart for something else last week and decided to take a quick look to save myself a trip to the supermarket.....the produce was actually beautiful - I was impressed.

[FlJoePa]

You must've found a bad Publix. I'm sure there are some, but mine is pristine and uncrowded. I LOVE my Publix!

[Caipirabob]

or at least move inland away from the beach.

Stay put and you'll retire as "Royalty" when you sell, friend - lol!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Sounds like they're taking after Kroger stores.

[Gabz]

I've never been in a Kroger so I can't comment.

I stated spending my summers on the Gulf coast in the 70s and WD was theclosest supermarket to my grandparent's house - I never did like it.

[The Great RJ]

In our local market, a regional grocery chain, HyVee, has 70% of the local grocery market even while competing with two super Wal-Marts, several smaller local grocery stores and two Mom & Pop neighborhood grocery stores. While Wal-Mart's entry into the grocery business caused two larger grocery stores to close, neither had succeeded in gaining much of a market hold in the first place. I seriously doubt that Wal-Mart will make much of an inroad into Hy Vee's predominance in this market. Hy Vee is employee owned and non union.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

We just got a new Hy Vee at Osage Beach, Missouri, close to where we live. It came on the scene exactly the same time a new Super Wal Mart was built in nearby Camdenton. Hy Vee is using golf carts to give rides to its shoppers from their parking lot, which is jammed. Wal Mart has taken about 50 percent of the Camdenton Kroger store, which has always been terrible.
Best of all Hy Vee carries A-E !