Janesville-based Woodman’s Food Markets, which recently opened a new store in Oak Creek, plans to build two more stores in the Milwaukee area and is looking for sites in the northern and western suburbs, according to Bret Backus, vice president of corporate real estate for Woodman’s.
Woodman’s typically looks for a site with at least 20 acres, Backus said. The prototypical Woodman’s store has 240,000 square feet of space, he said. The Oak Creek store at 8131 S. Howell Ave. is about 225,000 square feet. The company’s only other store in southeastern Wisconsin is in Kenosha.
Woodman’s is a discount grocery store. Its core customer base comes from within a five-mile radius of the store, but some customers travel 30 miles or more to take advantage of the low prices, Backus said. If possible, Woodman’s would like a site near a freeway, he said.
"We’re looking for regional locations," Backus said. Woodman’s is open to all possibilities, but considers the Highway 41/45 corridor in Menomonee Falls and Germantown a more likely location for the northern suburb store than the I-43 corridor in Ozaukee County, Backus said.
The Oak Creek store covers the southern suburbs for Woodman’s, he said.
Backus said Woodman’s has no preference yet about where the next Milwaukee area store will be built, either the western or northern suburbs. The next site will depend on the best opportunity that arises, he said.
Woodman’s has 12 stores and is planning to open more stores in northern Illinois, where it currently has three stores. The company also is planning to open a store in the Madison suburb of Sun Prairie.
