Target to Expand P-Fresh to 350 Stores in 2010

ELLIOT ZWIEBACH

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. here said yesterday it plans to roll out its expanded grocery and perishables format, called p-fresh, to 350 more discount stores in 2010 and ultimately to the majority of its base following encouraging sales results at the first 108 stores.

P-fresh, or prototype-fresh, is a format that adds 90% of the food categories and approximately 60% of the SKU count available at the company’s Super Target stores.

Gregg W. Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said Target is experiencing “the same kinds of strong performance characteristics” at the 30 Philadelphia stores where it implemented p-fresh last month as it recorded in its initial 40-store pilot here and at other stores where the format has been installed.

For the third quarter, which ended Oct. 3, net income increased 18.4% to $436 million, while retail sales rose 1.4% to $14.8 billion, and comparable-store sales fell 1.6%. For the nine-month period, net income fell 3.3% to $1.6 billion, while retail sales dropped 0.3% to $43.7 billion and comps fell 3.9%.

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