Target to open 11 stores in July

The retailer’s new locations — which will be in states such as California, Arizona and more — will top its average square footage.

New store openings

Target will open 11 new stores across the U.S. in July, adding to the retailer’s goal of opening 30 in 2026. The new locations top Target’s 125,000-square-foot chain average, according to a company announcement Monday.

The 11 new Target stores will be in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah. Six of those locations are over 140,000 square feet and many include Target’s newest “food-forward selection of fresh and affordable produce, meat and dairy,” per the announcement.

Turnaround strategy

Target is working on a turnaround strategy under CEO Michael Fiddelke that includes a goal to open 300 locations by 2035. Following several quarters of declining sales and store traffic, the retailer’s first quarter net sales increased 6.7% year over year to $25.4 billion. Merchandise sales grew 6.4% and comparable traffic increased 4.4% during the period.

“In Q1, many of our store experience metrics reached three-year highs with improved Net Promoter Scores and overall satisfaction regarding wait times, product availability, store cleanliness and interactions with our team,” Target’s new COO Lisa Roath said during an earnings call with analysts in May.

Target has opened 13 stores so far this year, the company said in details emailed to Retail Dive. The company earlier this year announced a $1 billion operational investment going toward “more changes within all stores than any year in the last decade,” additional store payroll and training, and more.

“Target is not an everything store,” Fiddelke said during a financial community meeting in March. “That’s not what guests want from us. They want a strong trend-forward assortment that they can trust to deliver quality and value.”