Kohl's is planning a downtown Milwaukee store. It will revive space last filled by Boston Store before that department store chain closed.
Kohl's Corp. is planning a downtown Milwaukee store — reviving vacant space last filled by Boston Store before that department store chain was liquidated.
The Kohl's store is to be on the first floor of HUB 640, 640 N. Phillips Ave., according to commercial real estate industry sources.
It will apparently be a small format store of around 35,000 square feet — compared to the more typical Kohl's store of 80,000 square feet.
An announcement is in the works for Friday — although one source cautioned it doesn't appear to be a done deal yet. A company representative didn't respond to a request for more information.
Kohl's plans, first reported by the Milwaukee Business Journal, are surfacing four months after Chief Executive Officer Michelle Gass said the Menomonee Falls-based retailer would roll out smaller stores to create "more localized experiences."
Gass said at a March 7 presentation to investors that the company plans to open 100 small format stores during the next four years.
“The smaller format store gives us greater real estate flexibility and the opportunity to go into markets and neighborhoods that couldn’t support full-size stores,” Gass said.
Those small stores give Kohl's the ability to experiment with selling clothing and other items that are specifically aimed at local markets, according to the company's first quarter earnings presentation on May 19.
Operating a small format store in downtown Milwaukee makes sense given the continued growth of people living in the downtown area, said Dick Seesel, who operates Mequon-based consulting firm Retailing in Focus LLC.
Also, the Milwaukee location gives Kohl's executives a location in the retailer's "back yard" to better evaluate the new format, Seesel said.
The retailer is facing pressure to increase its revenue even after fending off a hostile takeover attempt that resulted in a July 1 announcement that Kohl's is no longer in talks to sell the company.
Kohl's in May reported flat first quarter earnings that fell below expectations.
Also, the company has warned that its second quarter earnings, to be released Aug. 18, would be lower than forecast amid a weakening retail environment.
The small format stores are a key part of the company's strategy — with Kohl's calling it an opportunity to generate $500 million in sales.
A small format store at HUB 640 would take about half of the building's 66,000 square feet of first-floor retail space. HUB 640 also has 232,000 square feet of office space on floors two through five.
The building has been redeveloped by Chicago-based North Wells Capital LLC.
So far, North Wells has attracted three office tenants: nursing home and assisted living center operator North Shore Healthcare; Eight Eleven Group, which provides technology and business staffing and consulting services, and Abacus Architects.
HUB 640 is adjacent to The Avenue, a separately owned mixed-use development which replaced the former Grand Avenue mall.
Kohl's for most of its history has avoided urban locations in favor of stores in the suburbs.
Its only Milwaukee store is at 3737 S. 27th St.
Nationwide, Kohl’s has more than 1,100 stores.
Tom Daykin can be emailed at tdaykin@jrn.com and followed on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kohl's plans downtown Milwaukee location at former Boston Store site
