Wal-Mart exec goes to Wonder! land
Bill Colaianni, left, and Shane Christensen in the site leased for the first store. Photo by Stephen J. Serio
(Crain's) — A former chemist who helped launch NutraSweet has left a high-ranking post at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to run a start-up aiming to be Cabela's for kids.
Bill Colaianni is CEO of Wonder LLC, which plans to open its first store in November in a 135,000-square-foot former Great Indoors store at Deerbrook Mall in north suburban Deerfield.
The store, Wonder!, is to sell necessities like diapers and formula, as well as furniture, strollers, clothing, toys and other products for children up to age seven. Wonder! also is to have a restaurant and indoor playground for birthday parties or play dates, making it an "experiential" retailer in the mold of outdoor outfitter Cabela's Inc., whose stores have aquariums and archery ranges, and electronics manufacturer Apple Inc.
"The concept is good," says Neil Stern, a senior partner at Chicago-based retail consultant McMillan/Doolittle LLP. But he adds that execution will be key. "There's 1,000 ways you can fail in retail."
The children's field already is crowded. Discount giants like Wal-Mart and Target Corp. have essentially cornered the market on diapers, formula and other basics. Then there's specialty stores like Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us, which sells cribs and furniture, and outfits like Gymboree Play & Music that offer classes and indoor play space.
Mr. Colaianni, 60, resigned in late September as an executive vice-president and chief marketing and merchandising officer of the Central American division for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart, which is the world's largest retailer and is notorious for putting small retail ventures out of business.
Even though there's lots of competition, Mr. Colaianni says Wonder! doesn't have a direct rival. One key part of the firm's strategy is to capitalize on the ailing retail real estate market by getting low-cost leases at vacant big-box stores, like the former Great Indoors concept that Sears shut down.
"It's calculated risk because there's no guarantee it will succeed," Mr. Colaianni says. "But this is an opportunity to do something big the way I want to do it."
Wonder's founder and chairman is Shane Christensen, 35, of Lake Forest. He came up with the idea for a one-stop shop because he and his wife hate dragging their two young children from store to store.
The venture has at least one notable backer: Rick Mazursky, who helped launch Cabbage Patch Kids dolls. Mr. Mazursky, former president of the Arlington Heights-based toy maker now known as VTech Electronics America LLC, introduced Messrs. Colaianni and Christensen. He could not be reached for comment.
Before it sells a single toy, Wonder has the challenge of raising capital in this economy. The venture has commitments for about $1 million but needs an additional $4 million to launch the first location and is looking to raise an additional $10 million. The company's goal is to have 20 stores in five years.
Mr. Colaianni was born in Pocatello, Idaho, and now lives in Lake Forest. Because his father was in the Air Force, he grew up in the U.S., Japan, Germany and Great Britain. After earning a chemistry degree in 1973 from the University of Illinois at Chicago, he went to work as a chemist for G. D. Searle & Co., where he helped with the NutraSweet launch.
Mr. Colaianni, who speaks fluent Spanish, holds a master's degree in biochemistry from the University of Chicago and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. In the 1980s he left the laboratory to open plants for Searle in Brazil, Chile and Argentina, rising to become a vice-president of the company's NutraSweet operation in Latin America and Asia.
After a seven-year stint at Coca-Cola Corp., Mr. Colaianni joined Wal-Mart in 2005 as a vice-president of Puerto Rican Sam's Club locations. In 2008 he was tapped to lead Wal-Mart's Central American division, overseeing 520 stores and 31,000 employees in five countries.
Despite differences in age and style, Mr. Colaianni hit it off with Mr. Christensen, who was looking to partner with a retail veteran. Mr. Christensen worked at a venture capital firm for about four years and has since invested in various businesses, the latest a bar and restaurant in Las Vegas.
"He's very grounded," Mr. Christensen says of Mr. Colaianni. "He's done this before. He knows what works and what doesn't."
