The Financial Times is reporting that Wal-Mart is launching a smaller format called “Neighborhood Market” grocery stores in southern California. The new format will be limited to 42,000 square feet.
It will be interesting to see if the “Neighborhood Market” concept will have any impacts on the Long Beach City Council debate.
The Council is set to vote on November 6 on whether or not the voters should decide in February 2008 the fate of “big box” retail such as Wal-Mart’s Supercenters that exceed 100,000 square feet in Long Beach. The “Neighborhood Market” concept is significantly smaller in size compared to the Supercenter concept giving the city council another reason to rescind the “big box” ordinance on November 6.
Wal-Mart announced plans this week to build its first “Neighborhood Market” in Coachella and it is expected to open next year followed by another location in La Quinta.
According to the Financial Times, “California currently has only 31 of Wal-Mart’s national network of 2,300 Supercenters, compared with 151 in Florida.”
“Wal-Mart’s top executives are expected to lay out their store development plans for 2008 at a two-day analysts meeting that begins on Tuesday, following a decision earlier this year to moderate the pace of Supercenter expansion.“
Full disclosure: I am on contract with the Long Beach Chamber as their government affairs advisor.