Kohl's tests smaller stores in some markets

BEAVER DAM, Wis. - Retailer Kohl&#39;s Corp. is experimenting with smaller, concept stores that could become a way for the company to grow in places it deems too small for its traditional stores.<br> <br> The fast-growing, Menomonee Falls-based department store chain will open its fourth small test store later this month in Wilkesboro, N.C.<br> <br> It opened the other stores in August in Beaver Dam, Gaylord, Mich., and Clinton, Iowa - towns the company believes are too small to support an 88,000-square-foot Kohl&#39;s Department Store.<br> <br> &#34;It&#39;s a test. That&#39;s all it is,&#34; Kohl&#39;s President Kevin Mansell said. &#34;We&#39;re going to learn from it, and we&#39;ll develop our future strategies based on it.&#34;<br> <br> The Home Depot and Sears have tried several small-town formats in recent years, and traditional department stores have varied their store sizes in different markets.<br> <br> &#34;A lot of retailers are thinking about this,&#34; said Anne Brouwer, a consultant with McMillan/Doolittle in Chicago.<br> <br> Still, the Kohl&#39;s experiment differs from those efforts, Mansell said.<br> <br> Most other retailers who have tested smaller stores have eliminated entire departments or brands. Kohl&#39;s has put every department and every brand it carries into the 62,000-square-foot test stores, but some items are missing from departments because the smaller stores have 30 percent less merchandise.<br> <br> Retiree Doreen Mathison of Waupun recently shopped at the Beaver Dam test store, which has one set of entry doors and one checkout area rather than the usual two of each.<br> <br> Mathison prefers the larger Kohl&#39;s in Fond du Lac, but Beaver Dam is closer - and she likes the test store better than the nearby Penneys store, she said.<br> <br> &#34;I have a charge card at Penneys, but now I would probably come here. I plan to stop here every once in a while,&#34; she said.<br> <br> Kohl&#39;s expects to learn from the experiment how far people will travel to shop.<br> <br> In the northern Michigan town of Gaylord, people will travel as far as 100 miles to shop, said Christopher Hebel, director of the Chamber of Commerce there.<br> <br> &#34;We were thrilled when they made the announcement,&#34; Hebel said of Kohl&#39;s entry to the town. &#34;There were a number of Kohl&#39;s fanatics who made the trek to the southern part of the state to shop there.&#34;<br> <br> Kohl&#39;s has increased its new-store opening rate to 80 a year and plans to enter the southern California market in the spring with about 30 stores. The California opening will make Kohl&#39;s a coast-to-coast retailer with almost 490 stores.<br> <br>

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