Half Target stores to go in massive retail revamp
ABOUT half the Target store network will disappear and up to 1300 jobs will be lost under a major restructure of the struggling department store chain.
Owner Wesfarmers yesterday unveiled plans to shut up to 75 Target stores and convert as many as 92 to its successful Kmart brand.
There are 284 Target stores across Australia — six in Tasmania.
Between 10 to 25 largeformat Target stores will close, along with 50 smallformat Target Country stores. Another 10 to 40 Target stores and 52 Target Country stores will be converted to the Kmart brand.
The overhaul will result in all small-format Target locations in regional areas being shut or converted.
Target has stores in Hobart, Glenorchy, Launceston, Mowbray, Devonport and Burnie. Wesfarmers did not provide individual details about which stores would be shut or converted.
It also warned that many planned store conversions — expected to cost between $2 million and $4 million each — would only happen if landlords helped shoulder some of the cost of the new fit-outs.
If landlords are unwilling to stump up any cash, those stores are likely to close.
Wesfarmers chief executive Rob Scott said Target was not commercially viable in its current format.
“For some time now, the retail sector has seen significant structural change and disruption and we expect this trend to continue,” he said. “This is about giving Target a better opportunity for a sustainable future.”
Staff in Target stores being converted will be employed by Kmart, while it will work to deploy Target staff in stores being closed to other Wesfarmers businesses, which include Bunnings, Officeworks and online retailer Catch Group.
That, however, is still expected to result in 1000 to 1300 job losses, or about 10 per cent of Target’s current workforce.