Target plans bar in Chicago location
What once seemed like a violation of liquor ordinances is becoming increasingly popular. On the wave of consumer craft beer and cocktail connoisseurship, big grocery chains are installing in-store bars. Not only does allowing shoppers to drink while shopping imbue a grocer a little cosmopolitan flare, retailers like Whole Foods are no doubt finding that there is a quite practical reason to have a bar in-store — lower inhibitions on the part of customers mean more impulse purchases.
A recent retailer to get in on this trend, however, isn't an upscale "natural" grocer like Whole Foods; in fact it's not even strictly a grocer. Target may soon have its customers browsing through Merona shirts and Archer Farms foods while buzzed at one Chicago location.
According to the Chicago Tribune, Target has applied for a license to serve alcohol on the premises of its new store at Navy Pier, slated to open at the beginning of October. The location will be a smaller format Target, the first of its kind in Chicago. According to the Trib, the store will be one-fifth the size of a standard Target and will feature a Starbucks and a product selection geared toward neighborhood shoppers, emphasizing men's and women's apparel.
Image: Google street view of future Target, Navy Pier location
The development comes at a point when, according to Ad Age, Target's CEO is planning to focus on four core areas: style, baby, kids' clothes and toys, and wellness.
Offering customers the option to drink while shopping at one location does not immediately appear to be in keeping with this plan to focus on brand consistency, though at least one of the chain's stores has doubled-down on its booze offerings. One can see, in Target's Avondale, Chicago location, nearly an entire wall abutting the grocery section dedicated to packaged craft beer, liquor and wine.
Target has not indicated whether it intends to expand on-premises liquor sales and consumption beyond just the one Navy Pier location.
Others retailers outside of the high-end grocery space have also been making moves towards offering in-store alcohol. Kroger has announced that two of its Cincinnati locations will be installing beer taps and selling growlers filled with the on-tap beer, as well as hosting beer tastings. Wegmans has implemented a bar/restaurant called The Pub by Wegmans in one Virginia location, according to USA Today, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch indicates that a planned Wegmans location will also feature the bar/restaurant.