Discounters tops at keeping business fresh.(Editorial)(Editorial)

I have been thinking a lot about the mass channel recently and what I have discovered is an industry almost unmatched in its ability to remain fresh and exciting to the retail customer. And it goes beyond a willingness on the part of discounters to try something new, but seems more like a need to reinvent themselves on a number of different levels, including store design, product mix and even target audience.

Top of mind among out-of-the-box big-box thinkers is Target. The chain, one of the first to add the cool factor to mass using celebrity designers, has ripped the innovation envelop wide open with some of its store formats. Target was the first chain to test its …