Smaller Is Better

There's a revolution stirring in big box retailing. Those time-stressed consumers we wrote about in last month's "View From Here" who want to simplify their lives are also rebelling against the practice of shopping in warehouses the size of four football fields — especially when all they want to do is pick up a couple of items on their way home from work or school. They don't have time to park their cars and traipse across acres of tarmac just to get to the front door.

The big boxers are responding. According to a report in The New York Times, Wal-Mart has opened nearly 50 "Neighborhood Markets" in eight states, each store a quarter the size of the company's super centers. Home Depot launched its first smaller store in Brooklyn last year, and Staples and Dollar General are also rethinking the footprints of their outlets. While real estate costs and a lack of suitable sites for more monster stores has forced these retailers to think smaller, the turnaround also represents a change in mindset from just a few years ago when it seemed that all shopping — from apparel to hardware, groceries, and gifts — would eventually be done in one-stop visits to the local hangar-cum-superstore.

Of course, the new "mini boxes" are still super-large compared to the average gift store. But the success of both is based on the tenet that consumers demand convenience and simplicity in their shopping experience. After all, they've got better things to do than to hunt a sea of merchandise, deal with surly salespeople, and wait in long lines before escaping.

Enhancing the customer's shopping experience is a "front of store" responsibility that most specialty retailers excel at. But business success also requires sensible "back of store" practices. To help in that area, we introduce a new contributor this month. Mark E. Battersby takes over the Financial Management column (page 20), offering advice on how to cut insurance costs. Philadelphia-based Mark has been writing about business taxes and finance for more than 25 years, and is the author of five books and countless articles. Look for his column every other month in Gifts & Decorative Accessories.