Tops Markets is the latest retailer looking to use smaller stores to expand into areas it wouldn't have considered building in before.
A case in point is a new 27,000 square-foot store in Cheektowaga, NY. The new store, the first completely new unit built in Buffalo metro region by the chain since 2003, is half the size of the typical Tops.
"We think this is going to be a big part of our future," Frank Curci, president and chief executive officer of Tops, told The Buffalo News. "We think there are more opportunities for stores of this size."
The chain opened its first smaller format store last summer, that one a 40,000 square-foot unit, and quickly learned that locals wanted all the services offered in a 70,000 square-foot store.
"We have some of everything you'll find in a big store. The trick is how do you fit it all in," Mr. Curci told the News. "We didn't build this to be a convenience store."
The chain has discovered that shoppers at smaller stores spend about the same per visit as its larger locations. The difference between the two is the number of shoppers they attract.
But don't think that fewer shoppers equates to any less satisfaction with the store.
Mary Holtz, supervisor for the town of Cheektowaga, told The Buffalo News, "This area really, really needed a store. It just changes the entire neighborhood."