Target plans 150K sf stores in footprint expansion

Designs for new stores 20K sf larger for same-day fulfillment services

Target's Brian Cornell (Getty, Target)
Target's Brian Cornell (Getty, Target)

Target is changing its tune on its stores’ square footage, announcing plans to focus on large-format stores.

New locations in the coming years will be roughly 150,000 square feet each, more than 20,000 square feet greater than the Minneapolis-based company’s average store size today. It will continue opening stores of all sizes, but is planning a development push for larger locations in its pursuit of serving the same-day fulfillment needs of customers.

The goal is a shift from 2017, Bisnow reported, when Target revealed plans to focus on smaller footprints. The pandemic likely played a part in the latest turn, as customers traded in-store shopping for e-commerce and curbside service.

The format was recently unveiled in Houston. The layout includes five times the backspace fulfillment space in response to the company’s same-day services, which account for more than 10 percent of overall sales.

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Starting next year, Target expects more than 100 full store remodels and almost all of its 30 debuting stores will have at least some elements of the redesign, which also features more light and natural elements. Starting in 2024, all new and remodeled stores will have most of the redesign elements.

Target appears to have started in New York City on its aspirations to go as big as possible. Last month, the company signed a lease for 139,000 square feet at Urban Edge Properties’ Bruckner Commons, accounting for nearly a third of the Bronx retail hub. The store will open in 2025.

Last year, the company leased 90,000 square feet at Macerich’s Kings Plaza in Mill Basin, replacing a former three-story J.C. Penney. It was the largest retail lease in Brooklyn for the year.