Target Opens a Dozen Stores

The discount retailer’s new stores mostly have smaller footprints.

October 19, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS – The newest Target store in Minneapolis has roughly one-sixth the footprint of a typical Target location, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The discount retailer is opening 12 new stores this week in Chicago, Los Angeles, Manhattan and Philadelphia, all but one in the smaller format of around 22,000 square feet. The new Honolulu location will be full-size store.

Target’s newest stores are, well, targeting young professionals who live nearby with an in-store Starbucks with seating and outlets for phone charging, a line of activewear and groceries, particularly organic, all in a smaller space. The company has launched dozens of small-format stores since its first one debuted in 2014, putting them in underserved locations, such as closely populated urban or suburban areas and near college campuses.

Target has indicated that it views the smaller format stores as the wave of the future, with most of its 32 new store openings in 2017 in that size. “These [smaller stores] are unlocking tremendous value,” said John Mulligan, COO of Target. “They have more than two times the sales productivity of our average store. So even with higher operating costs they generate healthy returns.”

Store manager Kyle Kohns, who manages the new Minneapolis location, said that she anticipates shoppers using the store as a pickup point for online orders. “So they can have it sent here and come pick it up just to make sure it's safe,” rather than sitting outside their apartment door, she said.

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