Target announcing closures in Portland, Ore.; Seattle, Wash.; California; Harlem

[SamSpade]

These are 3 examples of the "small format" Target we've seen the chain shedding recently. Of course, one of them, they (or their landlord) recently spent millions of dollars to move from mostly the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Galleria building to only on the 1st floor. I guess the regular CVS will get their prescription files and continue to fill the hole for basic general merchandise in the city core.

The other two locations closing are on SE Powell near Cesar Chavez Blvd and Cleveland High School (a former bowling alley) and the Hollywood store, which seems doomed for retailers (this was a former Orchard Supply Hardware and Hollywood Bowl).

Seattle:
Ballard (must be small format)
University Way (definitely small format)

California:
3 in San Francisco area - 1 in San Francisco (Folsom St), one in Oakland, one in Pittsburg

New York:
Harlem

AP: Target to shutter nine locations, citing theft

[norcalriteaidclerk]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/target- ... heft-.html

San Francisco soma(Folsom/13th)is definitely small format.Can't speak for Oakland Broadway but Pittsburg is likely full sized though I could be wrong.

[babs]

Interesting that they kept the Downtown Seattle store. I'm guessing the store does enough volume to overcome theft issues. It's pretty busy. I'm thinking a lack of business was more of a factor and theft issues made them unprofitable.

[babs]

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/26/target- ... heft-.html

San Francisco soma(Folsom/13th)is definitely small format.Can't speak for Oakland Broadway but Pittsburg is likely full sized though I could be wrong.

Based on the store map and Google Maps photos, Pittsburg appears to be a full-size store. I'm not familiar with the area so I don't know how bad the crime issues are around there.

[ClownLoach]

Not one surprise on this list but Pittsburg - I don't know that area, but pictures show a very old full size format that appeared to get minimal remodeling or capital expenditure for decades. It has signage and lighting from the early 90's untouched.

All the others are small format locations Target never should have opened in the first place.
That horrific looking Folsom St store in San Francisco is on the list, that thing looked like they didn't even try to make it look nice. It had less ambiance than a Food4Less. That was the store that went viral on TikTok with the aisles and aisles of completely locked up merchandise where customers not only were shocked by the security measures but the fact that the store looked like a prison instead of a Target (and being on Folsom St. there were lots of State Prison references).

The two Seattle stores look like they were so small that they didn't hold any real capacity of anything, and the pictures are either empty shelves or full shelves with the apparant foods empty.

Interesting that the Portland Hollywood store pictures show they were trying a new graphics and sign package inside that I haven't seen in any other Target, not even the new prototype in Katy, TX. It had larger wall graphics signs that look better than what was in the usual small formats.

Also notice that the downtown Portland former 3 story CityTarget is closing - the one that had been downsized to just the first floor. That is probably the most significant closure here, because I am sure they pumped a lot of money into that location when it first opened. I wouldn't be surprised if they burned $100 million over the lifetime of that store.

Target obviously can't get these small formats right. They need to pull the GM product that isn't necessary and isn't selling, and expand foods. They seem to be trying to get food right currently at a few SuperTarget locations I frequent after neglecting the format for at least a decade. I commented about this on another thread that there is suddenly and finally signs of life in the Target organization when it comes to a real food business. If these locations were primarily grocery stores that didn't have clothing, jewelry, and kitchen appliances that get looted instead of sold then maybe they would have had a chance. I noticed that the pictures indicate they couldn't keep the shelves full in food sections and I do not believe that was all theft... if they had full size coolers, full size freezers etc. instead of the reduced displays they would have enough holding capacity to increase food sales 5 fold in most of these stores. Trader Joe's is a few blocks from one of the Seattle locations and they probably did just fine there because the neighborhood needed more food stores, not weird little Target buildings with funky limited clothing and kitchen appliance selections.

[ClownLoach]

So I noticed Target is now describing their store size strategy as follows on their website:

Sizing up the situation
Across much of the country, our typical Target stores average about 125,000 square feet; however, we’ve built the capabilities to open and operate stores in spaces of any size – from dense urban areas to sprawling suburbs to college campuses. While we can open stores of any size to reach guests wherever they are, we’re focusing on larger store formats in the coming years that provide guests the best of Target and better deliver our same-day services.

Before this language was hidden in the Katy-Ellison prototype store press release, but now they are clearly stating that the Super sized stores are the priority going forward and the future for the company. I'm interpreting that as their Target way of saying that they're going to finish whatever small format stores are still in the pipeline and then they are absolutely 100% done with them. Plus if they fail then they'll just close them without mercy.

But they smartly will reserve the right to be opportunistic, such as the closed Saks Fifth Avenue they just grabbed in Honolulu that's going to be a 77,000 sq ft. Target in the heart of the tourist shopping district. That store will be an immediate cash cow for the company, right on Kuhio across from Waikiki Beach. They do seem to have some more medium stores getting added into the pipeline, including more Miami area stores that are oddly Publix sized at 49,000 sq ft. and make me wonder if they are going to try to create a better "medium-small" format that is more food centric, like the SuperTarget grocery quadrant of the store with the health and household goods only as you would expect at a conventional grocery store.

[ClownLoach]

Interesting that they kept the Downtown Seattle store. I'm guessing the store does enough volume to overcome theft issues. It's pretty busy. I'm thinking a lack of business was more of a factor and theft issues made them unprofitable.

They have loaded that store with security, both Target AP and Private Security. Liquor is in a locked room where you basically receive one-on-one assistance from a team member. The store is always busy, the parking garage is clean and well patrolled. We have always used that as our Pike Place parking lot; usually we will need to make some small purchases so we buy a case of water and other essentials to meet the parking validation minimum purchase amount. But they do have enough of a problem that they do not offer public restrooms anymore and I think that is unfortuately not acceptable for a store nearly 100,000 sq ft. with groceries and pharmacy. I think it needs to downsize a bit like they did with downtown Portland CityTarget, but then that just was announced as a closure, so...

I expect the Long Beach, CA 7th St small format store will be on the next wave closing. They have given the store a strange, single tiny entrance door that is so narrow a customer entering with a cart can't pass an exiting customer with a cart. There is a security podium right there and they have closed the public restrooms. That was a Ralphs Fresh Fare which lasted nearly 40 years, but the shopping center management removed all security and suddenly the entire parking lot was filled with homeless and panhandlers despite being across the street from all million dollar homes. Then the city doubled down and bought a motel across the large intersection and converted it to homeless housing with the state's project roomkey program. People walk right out of their homeless housing, go over to the parking lot and break into cars then walk back to housing in plain sight. Same thing for the store, they walk right in and steal whatever they want with no fear or consequences then go back to the housing. CVS (former Longs) closed earlier this year in the same center. Putting homeless housing in the middle of a million dollar plus neighborhood is putting the entire local area out of business. It's a disaster. I think the store is almost at the ten year mark which would allow for an easy closure at the end of the lease term.

I also am surprised the small format north of LAX in the former Office Depot wasn't on this closure wave, but it is so new that they might not want to throw in the towel quite yet.

There are unsubstantiated social media rumors that Target wants to cancel a small format at ground level of a new luxury apartment tower in Downtown San Diego. The store is finished and sitting unopened (like most Amazon Fresh sites). But Target still has the store listed even as of this afternoon as an upcoming location.

I expect many, if not all of these stores aside from a small handful of college locations like UC Irvine will close at the end of their lease terms even if they make a small profit because they surely must deleverage labor expenses with bad logistics and low shelf capacity.

[Alpha8472]

Pittsburg is a very crime ridden and awful city. Expect to see bloody fistfights at the Walmart self checkout due to people cutting in line. It is that bad. The other San Francisco Bay Area stores are tiny.

[ClownLoach]

Pittsburg is a very crime ridden and awful city. Expect to see bloody fistfights at the Walmart self checkout due people cutting in line. It is that bad. The other San Francisco Bay Area stores are tiny.

That Pittsburg Target looked like it may have opened in the late 80s and might have been lightly remodeled only once, to remove the colorful neon from the walls and turn Food Avenue into a Starbucks. It otherwise looked very old and neglected. I don't see any pictures showing updated signage so I'm assuming it still has its original sign.

My wife went to one of the Super locations today and got more of the rolls I liked. They're now featured and signed as a "new line" of product called "Favorite Day Bakery - Baked In Store" and they have tweaked how they make them by hand slicing little "slits" in the bread dough before they're baked for a more homemade appearance. So they definitely are relaunching the fresh departments that sat idle for years, maybe a decade or more. They're at least forming bread in store in more varieties than just French bread (maybe from thawing pre-made dough, but might actually be from a mix). But they aren't using the frozen thaw and bake bread in that bakery - those rolls you can see at Ralphs and they have the identical shape and identical indentations on top because they were pressed out by machine. The Ralphs rolls look like play food, or fake food and they mold in less than 24 hours regardless of condition. Yuck. I'll try to get over there and take pictures.

She also was able to get fresh sliced lunch meat at the deli, I'll try it tomorrow and see how it is. Kretschmar products.

I really wonder if they're going to make a run at fixing the remaining small formats that weren't closed in today's latest store culling, and making them primarily grocery stores based on the most recently updated food departments at SuperTarget. They have a new "Chief Growth Officer" who apparently has been tasked with finding ways to grow sales exponentially. Target basically had the chance to equal Walmart's supercenter build out but decided not to and in turn gave up probably a hundred billion dollars in food sales they could have snagged over the last couple decades. I think they've finally seen the light, the question is can they get the systems and processes fixed at the existing Super locations everywhere and then expand on it?

[Alpha8472]

Target bought Gemco and entered California around 1987.

Gemco was owned by Lucky the supermarket chain. It was a membership club with a full supermarket inside selling Lady Lee products. It was a Supercenter years before Walmart ever opened up a supercenter.

There were two sets of checkouts. One for grocery and one for the general merchandise area. They had everything: toys, electronics, a pharmacy, bakery, donut shop, garden center, records, tapes, cds, hardware, auto parts, clothing, etc. It was like Costco combined with a supercenter. Membership was $1.