Just How Strong of a Force is Target? Could it Change Pembroke Mall?

I read an interesting article on the new Target store that is to go into the Pembroke Mall in Virginia Beach and noticed that while most in the area that took the time out to respond to the article are glad to see Target go in, some feel that it could cannibalize other retail efforts in the mall. The Pembroke Mall is the oldest shopping mall in the Hampton Roads area, dating back to the sixties.

Pembroke Mall was one of the premier shopping destinations many decades ago. But then other shopping malls like Lynnhaven popped up. But it didn't matter much because it was the only other indoor shopping mall in Virginia Beach. Yet with a new century, a new millenium, came Town Center. Not to worry though, even though Town Center is tall, with chic hotels, condominiums, and a performance arts center it is not a shopping center. What shopping does exist there, is upscale, and the same shoppers wouldn't go to Pembroke anyway.

Pembroke was already surrounded by shopping plazas. The only difference between Town Center and those other plazas is that Town Center is vertical and the new "downtown" of Virginia Beach. There are so many people in Virginia Beach, that you can always find someone to shop at a retail establishment, regardless of how bad it is. Across the street from Town Center is an old Kmart. One thing that is interesting about Kmart, is that those are extremely difficult stores to close. Where other stores would have given up and retreated years ago, Kmart stores continue to stand.

Perhaps the Kmart does not have competition that will push it out. Perhaps no other contender exists to question the old store. Ironically, when you exit Kmart and look across to your left you see Town Center in all of its glory. Kmart seems like a remnant from the sixties. Had a Walmart been built nearby it would have lost business a long time ago. But now that a Target is coming in across the street things should get interesting.

I think about the other areas where Target stores stand. Usually they are the focus of the shopping center. There is no competition, except for an actual grocery store. Target isn't that serious about selling food, so no worries there. Can a Target and a Kmart co-exist, in the same space, facing each other? It will be interesting to find out.

What keeps Kmart from completely going out of business? Old money, enough to purchase Sears but change the name of the holding company to make it appear as though Sears bought out Kmart. Thus the irony; Kmart cannot get into shopping malls and Sears cannot get out of them. This would appear to be an old way of doing things. Clearly, the future is in stores that are not attached to shopping malls.

Is Target a strong enough brand that people will actually vacate Sears and Kmart in order to shop there? Both Sears and Kmart specialize in pedestrian, but reliable, boring, but functional, plain, but high quality items. Target is more of a threat to Kmart than anything, as they both compete in the same retail space. Yet Kmart has that predictable, reliable, constituency that is not going to die anytime soon.

I still shop at Kmart. Sure the stores are dirty, the customer service sucks, and the prices are anti-competitive but it is the closest thing I can get to the stores of the eighties. There are no Zayre, Hills, or Ames stores around anymore and Kmart is all that I have to remind me of those stores. I know that Kmart has to close, needs to close, but I like to keep hope alive. Circuit City and Best Buy killed off Best Products, and I have a score to settle.

Target may very well be the future of Pembroke Mall. What should happen is that the largest, tallest, most tricked out Target store should be constructed there. A regular Target store simply will not do. Pembroke Mall should take advantage of their space and create a rich retail environment for those looking for something different than what the other malls have to offer. Pembroke Mall won't be known for having the same department stores that the other malls do, but that might actually be a very good thing. I have not been impressed with Macy's since they went national anyway ...