Kohl's Corp., the retailer from Menomonee, Wis., that's been on an expansion binge the past few years, has had its real estate people combing Florida for store sites for about a year.
So it comes as no surprise that rumors are flying again that Kohl's is about to start signing deals to put its 88,000-square-foot stores in Sunshine State shopping centers, including the Tampa Bay area.
Kohl's, which sells moderately priced apparel in a setting similar to Beall's Department Stores of Bradenton, had been one of the nation's fastest-growing apparel retailers. Its growing popularity was one reason bigger rivals such as Sears, Burdines and JCPenney tried its recipe of central checkout counters, wider aisles and bigger directional signs.
This year, though, Kohl's sales growth lost steam. Sales in stores open more than a year shrank to a lackluster 0.2 percent through the first half of the year. In August, sales improved to a 3.2 percent, but fell behind analyst expectations of 3.8 percent.
Still Kohl's, which has 492 stores, plans to open 85 more this year, mostly in the Southwest. Next year, Kohl's plans 90 to 100 more new stores, but has identified nothing south of Birmingham, Ala. Typically Kohl's assembles sites for several stores in a major metro market, then opens them all at once.
"We have made no announcement we are entering Florida," company spokeswoman Tawn Earnest said, noting she gets almost weekly calls from reporters about when Kohl's will move into Florida. "Last week, a reporter in Jacksonville was following up on a tip from a reader who insisted she saw a new Kohl's store along the Interstate. Take it from me, if we do decide to enter Florida, it will be known all over the place."
