Target Makes a Big Push With Smaller Stores into Los Angeles

Big box stores are scaling down and making a big push into the city of Los Angeles.

Today Target announced the third location for its new project CityTarget, which is a whittled-down version of the big box store. The company has set its bulls-eye at the Beverly Connection on the corner of La Cienega and Beverly Blvd, and it is set to open March 2013. The store is 99,000 square feet, and it will be on the second floor of the building.

Two CityTargets are already set to open in Westwood and downtown, and this third store means that Los Angeles has more CityTargets in its future than any other city...so far. The Los Angeles Times reports that the stores will aim at a slightly different crowd: "Think less patio furniture, more pre-made sandwiches."

If you've been following big box news lately, you'll remember that Walmart is planning on bringing a scaled-down grocery store to Chinatown—much to the dismay of some labor groups (we haven't heard any rumblings from local labor groups unlike some groups in New York about Target's new push into the city).

The moves are part of the same trend. Our 'burbs are already saturated with the stores (Target notes there are 58 stores in the Los Angeles area, in its release), so big box stores are trying to figure out how to move into high-density areas in the city. Walmart is banking on stores selling groceries, and Target is scaling down and tweaking its model.

"If these pilot stores prove out with good economics, you can imagine all these large, high-population markets will be opportunities for growth," Matt Arnold, a consumer analyst with Edward Jones & Co., told the Times.

So if the move goes well, other cities around the country could be seeing more of these slimmed down Targets and Walmart.

Related:
Coming To Chinatown: L.A. County's First Wal-Mart Grocery