Aiming to renovate 130 stores and strengthen food departments
By 2026, Target plans to upgrade 130 stores, add 30 new stores and expand its grocery aisles to attract customers and build loyalty.
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Target has reached a retail milestone with the opening of its 2,000th store.
The Minneapolis-based retailer will open a watershed store on Sunday, March 15 in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, just southwest of Raleigh. Four other new stores will also open on the same day. Two stores are in California, and one each in Missouri and Texas.
Target plans to open more than 30 stores and renovate more than 130 stores in 2026, the company said. The expansion is part of a $5 billion capital expenditure announced by CEO Michael Fidelke during Target’s investor day on March 3.
the goal? “We are making significant changes to lead with a trend-forward assortment, enhance the guest experience, accelerate with technology, and position our team to deliver the most enjoyable experiences in retail, now and in the long term,” Fidelke said in a statement.
Target also reduced prices on more than 3,000 items on March 11th, with apparel, home goods, and daily necessities slashed by 5% to 20%.
Where will Target open new stores?
Target is opening seven new stores this spring, including five on March 15th, two of which will open on March 29th. The location is as follows.
- 6301 Gosford Road, Bakersfield, CA (March 15)
- 321 Woollomes Avenue, Delano, California (March 15)
- 3444 W. Sunshine Street, Springfield, MO (March 15)
- 3200 Gold Ring Road, Fuquay Varina, NC (March 15)
- 655 W. Illinois Ave., Dallas, Texas (March 15)
- 104 Sip Avenue, Jersey City, NJ (March 29)
- 235 Prospect Avenue, West Orange, NJ (March 29)
The 2000th store, located in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, has a food and beverage department that is 30% larger than the company’s average store. The 148,000 square foot store also includes a CVS Pharmacy, Starbucks Café and Disney Shops at Target. The average Target store size is about 125,000 square feet, the company said.
Target plans to open more than 300 new Target stores by 2035 as part of its expansion plan. The company’s announced plans come a month after Target cut about 500 jobs in its offices and supply chain to increase pay for store workers.
Fidelke, who took over as CEO in February, announced in October that the company would cut about 1,800 positions, the company’s first major layoffs in about a decade. The company plans to lay off about 100 people at the store district level and about 400 people across supply chain sites, according to an internal email sent to employees by Adrian Costanzo, store manager, and Gretchen McCarthy, chief supply chain and logistics officer.
The company has been struggling, reporting a 2.5% drop in sales for the three months ended January 31, which includes the year-end sales period. However, Fidelke expects net sales to grow in each quarter of this year.
“Target’s strong balance sheet gives it the financial headway to execute on its expansion plans,” Carol Levenson, director of research at Gimme Credit, said in a research note. But Levenson said he remains “skeptical of a miraculous turnaround.”
Contributed by: Reuters
Mike Snyder is a national trends news reporter for USA TODAY. You can follow him on Threads, Bluesky, and X, and email him at: mike snyder & @mikegsnider.bsky.social & @mikesnider & msnider@usatoday.com.
