As it plans a modernizing 500-location remodeling program for 2018 and 2019, Target Corp. has unveiled design elements for what the company characterized as its most ambitious store redesign to date. The redesign will be showcased at a store in the Houston suburb of Richmond near Grand Parkway Southwest this October.
The new “reimagined” store will incorporate a full suite of design elements that Target will selectively apply in the remodeling program kicking off next year, according to the retailer.
The new 124,000 square-foot Richmond store will offer guests a fresh shopping experience, Target maintained, conceived as the retailer evolves along with its customer’s needs. This year, 40 Target stores will receive elements of the next generation redesign when they are updated in October. Guest feedback and store-level experience gained this year will influence Target’s customized approach to the 500 stores being remodeled in 2018 and 2019.
The modernized design will include large glazed glass windows at the front of store, stenciled concrete floors and unique lighting throughout. The Richmond store will provide two entrances, each with a specific guest need in mind. Guests can enter through one entrance to find displays of exclusive brands and inspiring seasonal moments, and the second for easy pick-up of online orders and groceries. That entrance will give time-pressed customers easy access to grocery, a Wine & Beer shop, self-checkout lanes and a dedicated order pickup counter. Outside the entrance, guests will find dedicated parking spaces where team members will deliver online orders to their cars.
Other features of the modernized store environment include elevated, cross-merchandise product presentations that will showcase Target’s exclusive style assortment across apparel and accessories, home, jewelry and beauty, encouraging guests to browse. An enhanced grocery department design will feature woodgrain fixtures, a robust assortment of fresh produce and quick, grab-and-go options and meal solutions.
A new store layout element for Target, curved, more circular center aisles, will feature merchandise displays set to engage customers with compelling products in unexpected places.
Target will also provide store team members with new technology, which will roll out to all stores this fall, to search inventory, take payment from a mobile point-of-sale system and arrange delivery, all from the sales floor.
All told, Target’s current remodeling initiatives will cover 600 stores by the end of 2019 as part of a strategy to create a smart network, with stores, digital channels and supply chain working together to meet guests’ needs. In addition, Target plans to open more than 100 small-format stores over the next three years, curating the best of Target for dense urban neighborhoods and college campuses.
“With our next generation of store design, we’re investing to take the Target shopping experience to the next level by offering more elevated product presentations and a number of time-saving features,” said Brian Cornell, Target chairman and CEO, at the ShopTalk trade show in Las Vegas.
He added that the Richmond store would “provide the vision for the 500 reimagined stores planned for 2018 and 2019, with the goal of taking a customized approach to creating an enhanced shopping experience.”
