Greatlands Target enjoys room to grow

Neither standard nor super, the new Target store is best categorized as great.

Opening in July 2003, the Target Greatland store was the first retailer in the new Sunnybrook Plaza off Highway 20 in the Morningside area. The move gives Target much greater retailing space and its own parking lot.

The prior Target site, typical of most with some years on them, existed for 23 years as a Southern Hills Mall anchor. But it was only 100,000 square feet and Target officials felt locked with no way to expand given the constraints of the mall.

In the 1990s, Minneapolis-based Target first began opening Greatland stores, which offer more merchandise selections, and the even broader SuperTargets, which in many cases feature a full line of groceries, including meat, fresh produce, a bakery and deli.

While Greatlands aren't as expansive as a SuperTarget, merchandise categories within "get broader and deeper in a Greatland versus a standard Target," store manager Gary Frafjord explained. The store layouts also are different. In the traditional format, clothing and other soft lines are displayed on one side of the store, with hard lines on the other side. In a Greatland, "soft lines are in the middle and hard lines wrap around the edges," Frafjord said.

The driving needs for the new store involved parking and the ability to display more goods in a store that is larger by 45,000 square feet, Frafjord said. "We really gained a lot of space in clothing, toys and in our seasonal area," he said. Seasonal is the area that contains lawn products in spring and back-to-school items in late summer.

Siouxlanders now have the option of goods at 5775 Sunnybrook Drive that weren't present in the mall location. Only the home improvement, automotive and health and beauty sections remain the same size, all others have expanded, including more area for electronics, party goods and toys. "Our pet department doubled in size," Frafjord said, and the non-Christmastime toy area spiked from 12 to 22 aisles.

One other bonus - much wider aisles for carts. "This prototype holds a lot of people and you don't feel congested and crowded," Frafjord said.

He cited the example of checkout lines in the busy Christmas season as not being backed up into aisles and inhibiting the movement of other customers. He said Christmas 2003 sales were up by double-digits compared to 2002, "but it never felt that busy" due to the expansive store.

Staffing has remained similar in both locations, with just a few more workers added at the Sunnybrook site. There are about 35 full-time and 100 part-time Target Greatland employees.

Frafjord has managed Target in Sioux City in two stints, from 1983-84 and again beginning in 2000. Making a comparison of the two stores, Frafjord said, "we like our new home, with everything being new. ... Everything fits and works the way it is supposed to."

Frafjord said "our sales are about the same as the other location, but as this area (Sunnybrook Plaza) develops, with our own parking, we have the ability to grow. We have much more of an opportunity for sales."

That could translate into growth again to a SuperTarget, he said. Studies by the corporate chain will determine whether that will happen, Frafjord said, but he "could foresee" that. "It would have to depend on sales," he said, as well as what competing grocers in the area do.

That would sit well with Marsha Kjar of Ida Grove, Iowa. "I'm sure a SuperTarget would go over well," Kjar said as she exited with a shopping cart.

She's been a longtime Target patron. "I always have a Target shopping list at home and I always shop here," Kjar said. "It is real convenient." That convenience is even better on Sunnybrook, since Kjar doesn't have to drive to the mall, she said, with "easy access off (Highway) 20."

Janelle Weimerskirch of Dakota Dunes concurred with Kjar on preferring the new Target. Weimerskirch said she spends about the same amount at the new as the old store.

But she lamented where the new store is located, saying "I miss it out there at the mall. I find myself either going to the mall or here."

Frafjord said one category of persons who got used to Target at the mall has moved with the store. Some of the people who walked the mall for exercise in the early morning hours have come on out to Sunnybrook, he said. Now they walk the interior perimeter of the store - one more benefit of wider aisles.

Bret Hayworth can be reached at brethayworth@siouxcityjournal.com or 293-4203