Target to add 15 new sites this year, revamp home at general merch units

Target Corp. this year will open 15 stores in three distinct store formats – eight TargetExpress es, one CityTarget and six general merchandise stores – and will test new layouts at some of its existing locations, including lifestyle vignettes added to the home department.

Target said it is employing a new store growth strategy focused on reaching shoppers in urban centers by introducing new formats like TargetExpress and CityTarget while also “offering new experiences, merchandising layouts and innovations in its general merchandise stores.”

“Our store growth looks different today than it did five years ago, driven by guests’ expectations for ease and personalization in their shopping experience,” said Tina Tyler, evp and chief stores officer. “Smaller formats like TargetExpress and CityTarget offer customized assortments and services to meet the needs of guests who are increasingly moving into urban centers. In our general merchandise stores, we’re embracing a test and learn philosophy, innovating with layouts and experiences and bringing digital and bricks and mortar together like never before.”

At its Fort Worth, Texas store, the company is enhancing its home product assortment in a lifestyle setting “to stop guests in their tracks and allow them to imagine how products might look in their own homes.” Additionally, the new Oahu-Kailua, Hawaii store will offer merchandise from 30 local vendors “to provide relevant merchandise for guests.”

This year, Target will open its first East Coast CityTarget store in Boston near Fenway ballpark, followed by a location in Brooklyn, N.Y. that will open in 2016 in the City Point development. CityTarget debuted in 2012 and offers an edited assortment of Target’s best-selling merchandise as well as smaller pack sizes of consumables and housewares. These sites are smaller than traditional Target stores, ranging from 80,000 to 160,000 square feet. There are currently eight CityTarget stores, including three in Los Angeles, two in San Francisco, one in Seattle, one in Portland, Ore. and one in Chicago.

The eight new TargetExpress sites include two in California -- San Francisco and San Diego – as well as one in St. Paul, Minn., another in the greater Washington D.C. area, and one in Chicago. The retailer’s smallest format spans 20,000 square feet and is stocked with a merchandise assortment specially localized for its community.

So far, there is just one TargetExpress, which opened last July in Minneapolis. Based on customer response, the initial assortment was expanded to include baking supplies, belts, sunglasses, jewelry and select apparel items, including C9 items. Beyond 2015, Target may bring TargetExpress to the greater Philadelphia area, Los Angeles, the greater Washington, D.C. area, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay area.

Source: home & textiles