A question for any of you who might know (but don't feel bad if you don't)...

[Bobsketball]

How do retail companies decide how much money/time/effort they will spend on remodeling an empty store that they move into? For example, why does Walmart do so much remodeling of empty stores (old Caldor stores for example) but Big Lots does no remodeling at all? And then some chains like Home Depot have sometimes taken old Kmart buildings and kept the exteriors a Kmart design (but Home Depot would NEVER keep the Kmart look on the interior) but in other cases has remodeled both inside and out, or knocked down a building to start over, even if the prior tenant recently closed.

[ynkeesfn82]

If Big Lots and Ocean State Job Lot invested lots of money in remodeling store that they occupied they would have to charge more for their merchandise. How much they remodel also depends on how much work needs to be done to the space. Big Lots didn't do a lot to the old Waldbaum's Food Mart on Farmington Ave in Bristol, CT. I don't know how much work Ocean State Job Lot did when they took over TJ MAXX in Bristol, CT. I don't shop at TJ MAXX much. I'm sure Ocean State Job Lot did quite a bit of work when they took over the old Super Foodmart in Berlin. They divided the space and I'm sure they repaired the roof.

At least on the outside Walmart tries to have their stores have a uniform look. For example in both Southington, CT and the now defunct New Britain store on Farmington Ave they had to take down the Caldor slope. I don't know if the other former Rainbow Caldor they took over had the slope as well.

Stop & Shop didn't do much when they took over the old Shaw's on Kitts Lane in Newington, CT.  The exterior still has the Shaw's look to it. The exterior of the Shoprite in Wallingford, CT still looks like Shaw's. The inside - not so much. The Drusts made it their own. As for Shoprite in Southington they're in the old Shaw's and the building was in really bad shape and they had to completely gut the building.

Some of the Stop & Shops remodeled their exteriors too while others did not. The store in Southington, CT and the one in the Forestville section of Bristol still have they same Grey exterior that they did when they opened - Southington in 1993ish and Forestville in 1998ish.

[Hudsons81]

Meijer did change a few things around when they took over the old Super Kmart in Lincoln Park, Michigan. The exterior still looks like a Super Kmart and the interior too, to a lesser extent (as they pretty much changed it into their own).

[BillyGr]

If Big Lots and Ocean State Job Lot invested lots of money in remodeling store that they occupied they would have to charge more for their merchandise. How much they remodel also depends on how much work needs to be done to the space. Big Lots didn't do a lot to the old Waldbaum's Food Mart on Farmington Ave in Bristol, CT. I don't know how much work Ocean State Job Lot did when they took over TJ MAXX in Bristol, CT. I don't shop at TJ MAXX much. I'm sure Ocean State Job Lot did quite a bit of work when they took over the old Super Foodmart in Berlin. They divided the space and I'm sure they repaired the roof.

That definitely makes sense that the lower end (lower priced) stores would do less work on a store they take over.  Our Ocean State here (in a Grand Union) simply put up a few "walls" to make more stock space and less sales floor - there are pictures somewhere out there showing that the service areas (like seafood, meat etc.) still have their GU tile behind the "new" walls.  Also - a couple spots instead of just removing a lighted box that used to hold a department sign, they simply flipped the sign over to leave a box with a blank spot.
If you go cheaper, you see even less - look at the flea market in the old Dutchess mall (with obvious Jamesway décor that is 20+ years old, and still there even after the space was used for the post office and I think some college for a time).  Or the one that used to be in Agawam, MA in the Ames with the old red A letters on the wall.

On the other end, you get Home Depot in Albany (NY) which took down a whole strip plaza, including a Grand Union that had replaced a Caldor and was completely new construction and only open about 6 months, rather than demolishing the much older former Price Chopper and small storefronts and building onto the almost new GU section for their store.  And this Grand Union, in addition to being new, was much more of a warehouse style building that should have been easily adaptable to Home Depot.

[Ameskid]

Meijer did change a few things around when they took over the old Super Kmart in Lincoln Park, Michigan. The exterior still looks like a Super Kmart and the interior too, to a lesser extent (as they pretty much changed it into their own).

No surprise there. Meijers and Super Kmarts can easily be interchangeable to my eyes, with some well-placed facade changes and new paint...