You can't buy a Batmobile at Sendik's.

First impression of the new Shoppes at Wyndham Village Target?

Vast.

Second impression: There sure are a lot of groceries in here. A lot.

Third impression: Sure would hate to try to run a grocery business next door to this monster.

And didn't the representative from Target say, many months ago (September 6, 2007, in fact), that Target had no plans to have a wine selection?

UPDATE and CLARIFICATION: After digging up the tape of that meeting, I heard commissioner Shari Hanneman voice her concern that she'd been to a Target in Roscoe, Illinois "and I was so surprised to see a liquor department. I just want to be clear for the record; Will this particular Target or will it not have a liquor department?"

The answer was fairly long winded. "It's a lot based on the policies of the locale. It's state by state. The SuperTargets, go in ... typically, ask for the wine and spirits. You know, they typically have the beer, the full selection. The newer general merchandise stores these days like to sell wine, but it does depend on the jurisdiction and that conditional use, if liquor is a separate entitlement or separate conditional use. It would be in this store if.. it would be the wine is what would be asked for."

Most assumed that Target would not get a conditional use, being that Sendik's was right next door.

Surprise: Target has a pretty darn substantial wine, liquor and beer selection. They got their license and/or conditional use.

Higher end house brands? Tons.

 

 

Archer Farms is a Target house brand that's specifically designed and marketed to appeal to the sorts of people who shop at or aspire to places like .....

 

See where this is going?

Because here's the thing: You can't buy a Batmobile at Sendik's.

This morning I ran into some friends who stopped at the new Target on their way to the Wisconsin Dells. They needed some road food, snacks, water, etc. Their money went to Target; they never even considered the neighboring Sendik's. Because they figured they could pick up some sunscreen as well; why split the trip?

I stopped at Target because it was opening day, but also because I really wanted that Hot Wheels '60s-era Batmobile that just came out (lost my childhood Corgi version in the flood). I ended up getting some cereal and a Starbucks coffee at the same time. Didn't go near Sendik's - - you can't get a Batmobile there, you know. (Nor can you loiter in an aisle examining dozens of varieties of pens, another favorite pastime of mine.)

Don't think this is significant? Think this is all "great competition?" Then you haven't studied closely the reasons people shop where they shop and buy what they buy. As it happens, I've spent twenty years of my life squandering brain cells on exactly those questions. I'm good enough at it by now that companies regularly pay me decent money to advise them on those exact issues. (Heck, spend a weekend with a book and you'll start to get the picture very quickly. Just don't horn in on my client base).

Grocery stores like Sendik's don't make their real nut on you going in and getting exactly what's on your list. The real money is in incidentals that you suddenly decide you need while you're there - - and that's where the higher mark-up is. On everything else, they have to remain competitive and therefor maintain thinner - - sometimes murderously thin - - margins.

Example: Computer nerds and audio jocks know that you should never buy cables or cords at Best Buy. A nominal length of USB or ethernet line is just outrageously expensive there (recent example from The Consumerist website: Three generic 6-foot optical audio cables from online retailer Monoprice.com for $10.79, shipped. Same product from Best Buy [the cheaper, Acoustic Research brand], shipped price was $97.47 for three).

But Best Buy still manages to make really big money on high mark-up cords because it's an incidental purchase made while picking up a DVD player or iPod. (Best Buy managers encourage their no-commission floor sales crew to push the cables, of course; they sold my mom a $100 cord she could have gotten at Radio Shack for $5.99). And, you guessed it, they don't make much  - - if anything - - on the sale of that DVD player; it's the cables that excite the Best Buy bean counters.

Bottom line: We are about to watch a seasoned nation-wide predator slowly and efficiently absorb its locally-owned prey over the course of a couple years; it has overtly configured itself as if Sendik's does not exist, much less live right next door.

And - - given the current state of the economy for smaller businesses - - you have to wonder if any additional tenants are going to be anxious to consider Shoppes at Wyndham Village, a place where they would have to coexist uncomfortably close to a formidable one-stop-for-everything big box that has demonstrated a distinct lack of regard for its nominal co-anchor and, furthermore, controls the entire development. (See also: Strip Mall Vacancy Rate Increases Sharply in Q2.)

By the way, you can't get a GI Joe at Sendik's either ...

Comments

[Raymond]

John, what is your opinion on the entrances/exits to this development along Drexel? I think they are confusing and will certainly hurt business. For example, lets say I am driving west on Drexel from the library and want to go to Target. If I don't enter via the roundabout, there is no way to get in due to the right turn in and right turn out ONLY entrance in front of Target. Now lets say I finally find a way to get into Target, and I am done shopping and I want to go to go south on Hwy 100 to Hales Corners. If I drive out the exit on Drexel, the only way I can go is east towards City Hall. In order to go towards Hwy 100, I have to go through the roundabout in front of Sendik's. It seems like very poor site design for traffic coming or going via Drexel. If you are coming from Hwy 100, you can avoid these problem areas by using the new stop lights. The problem is that 95% of Franklin residents live east of Hwy 100, and will probably be coming from the east via Drexel.

[Nick Aster]

God I hate the name "Shoppes and Wyndham Village" .... it makes me want to vomit.

Have you ever read Dave Barry's proposal for an "e" tax? It's great:

http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/793

[Scott Thinnes]

Raymond, if you go south on Highway 100 from Drexel to get to Hales Corners, it will be a long drive.

You sound like you aren't too cool with the roundy-round concept...blessed be those who go round in circles, for they shall be called wheels.

The right turn in, right turn out situation is a design meant to appease the neighbors to the north. This prevents traffic from traversing all the way across Drexel either into or out of the R3E subdivision to the north. In the beginning that was a concern. In the original plan, that was the only alteration of Drexel planned. We'll have to wait until the shoppes builds out and the traffic reaches its peak, say at Christmas time, then we'll see how well the redesign of Drexel works. If there are a lot of people exiting the west exit to go east on Drexel, and alot of people from the east are entering and doing the 3/4 roundabout circle to get into the shoppes, that roundy-round will be crowded. At least in the winter there probably won't be anyone in the bike lanes.

I think I would have liked to see only one entrance on Drexel into the shoppes, at about the mid-point of the parking lot. A signal controlled three way intersection with turn lanes would have been nice.

[John Michlig]

Raymond describes the misshapen route I ended up taking; though I have no trouble with the roundabout entrance, it seemed to early to turn and I felt there had to be another left turn farther west, closer to Target. No luck, and I had to turn left on hwy 100 and then enter off off hwy 100 and across busy traffic.

Just one of the many, many design flaws of this site.

[Josh Strupp]

My wife received a new "friendly neighborhood" Target coupon book today. It was nothing special except that EVERY coupon in the book was for food. I've received many Target coupon books over the last few years (my wife's second home) and no coupons, until now, featured a food item.

[John]

Target cannot be blamed for following their normal course. It was our own city administration that set the fox loose in the henhouse.

It is poor planning dictated by the developer's desire to profit.

[J. Strupp]

...and I agree whole-heartedly John. But I also question Sendik's ownership for building in a development with a major retailer that is looking to cut their throats. I specifically remember Balestrari getting up at Carstensen's meeting last year and saying that he isn't interested in building in a development without an anchor retailer. You would think that they would make darn sure that the "anchor retailer" didn't conflict with Sendik's product mix. Guess not.

Judging by what I see so far, I think he might be eating those words in a couple of years.

[Greg]

Josh is spot on with the observation. Furthermore, the fact that Target openly lied to the city with regards to the wine speaks volumes.

Sendik's Fine Foods probably wouldn't have located in a development with an anchor that sells the exact same products that they do for less. No one does that!

[J. Strupp]

I wouldn't go as far as saying that Target offers the exact products that Sendik's does. I would say that Target offers some products that Sendik's would consider to be rather profitable (IF they didn't have their neighbor selling the same thing at a discount).

Again, I would question why Sendik's didn't feel the need to inquire as to Target's product mix (considering many Target's have been leaning more towards groceries recently). This just seems like a questionable business move in the part of Sendik's.

[Raymond]

See what happens? With all of these right turns and roundabouts, I got all dizzy and confused on my directions and turned south to head north!

I have no problem with roundabouts. I know a lot of people do though. I think people who are heading westbound on Drexel and want to go to Target to buy their cheap wine will skip the roundabout and then have to turn into the subdivision to the north in order to turn around and go back to the roundabout. How is that for appeasing the neighbors to the north?

[capper]

Dude, is that a mullet?

[John Michlig]

Close. Optical illusion created by the security guard's shoulder.

However, a couple of years BEFORE that picture was taken ...

[J. Strupp]

I was thinking the same thing capper. Kind of looks like a Barry Melrose mullet....you know, the mullet 2008 version....trimmed and groomed:)

A little more business in the front, a little less party in the back.

I kid, I kid.

[John Michlig]

All I can say is, it's VERY fortunate for me that digital cameras and the interweb did not exist when I was attended college in Madison.

A semi-mullet was the LEAST of my style problems back then.