Kohl’s plans to add grocery to drive traffic

Department store operator Kohl’s is seeking to partner with a food retailer to help drive traffic to its stores, according to reports.

The Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based chain is seeking “well capitalized companies” that can drive traffic in grocery and convenience retailing, the chain’s CEO, Kevin Mansell, told CNBC at the ICR Conference in Orlando, Fla.

Kohl’s has streamlined the offering in hundreds of its stores, and plans to use the excess space in at least some of those locations to showcase grocery items that draw customers to its stores more frequently, CNBC reported. The retailer operates more than 1,100 stores, most of which measure between 80,000 and 90,000 square feet, in 49 states.

Rival retailers such as Target, Walmart and Kmart have long incorporated extensive food offerings in their stores.

However, unlike those retailers’ grocery operations, the grocery stores that partner with Kohl’s would have their own entrances and would be separated from Kohl’s by an internal wall, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A spokesperson for Kohl’s was not immediately available for comment.

Kohl’s already has a partnership with Amazon to offer Amazon products in its stores and accept returns, but Mansell declined to comment on whether Kohl’s might extend that partnership by working with Amazon’s Whole Foods division to pilot the grocery project.

Kohl’s plans to announce news about its grocery partnership efforts during its March 1 fourth-quarter earnings call, he said.