Wal-Mart Opens at Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will open its first Central Los Angeles store Jan. 22 at Baldwin Hills–Crenshaw Plaza. The world’s No. 1 discount retailer will occupy the center’s Art Deco 150,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Macy’s West. Wal-Mart tailored the interior of the three-story building with extensive upgrades and the installation of wider escalators for moving customers and shopping carts between floors. Sears, Roebuck & Co., Robinsons-May, Magic Johnson Theatres and Albertson’s also anchor the center owned by Manhattan Beach, Calif.–based Center Trust Inc. The store represents Wal- Mart’s new strategy of penetrating urban markets after establishing a foothold in suburban America, as well as its aggressive expansion plans. In May 2002, the company said it would open 40 Supercenters—a hybrid discount store and supermarket—in California over the next three to five years. Last October, Wal-Mart announced it would open 45 to 55 discount stores and up to 210 Supercenters in 2003. About 140 of those Supercenters will be relocations or expansions of existing units. —Nola Sarkisian-Miller
