Target ready to shut up shop

THE majority of Target’s permanent workforce at its Northgate store have opted to take a redundancy, with the major retailer set to vacate the space for good.

After more than three decades, the Glenorchy Target store will close its doors on Friday – but it remains unclear what will fill the void it leaves behind.

Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association Tasmanian branch secretary Paul Griffin said while it was “very disappointing” to see the store close, employees were given ample notice of the decision and therefore had time to seek out other work opportunities.

“My understanding is, from the information I’m receiving, the majority of employees have taken up the offer of redundancy,” Mr Griffin said.

He said the workforce at the Northgate Target store was typically “about the 60 mark” and varied over time, depending on the number of available casuals.

Target is part of the Kmart Group, which is owned by Wesfarmers.

Target confirmed last weekend that its Glenorchy store would be closing, saying the decision was due to a breakdown in negotiations over a new lease.

It is unclear what the future holds, with Mr Griffin saying there had been “a couple of proposals put forward”.

“There were some discussions that . . . another of the business operations of Wesfarmers [may lease the space],” he said. “My understanding is that there’s been no further talk on that – that was several months ago – so I’m assuming that that’s now not necessarily the case.”

Glenorchy Mayor Bec Thomas said the council expected that “other retail stores” would occupy the space “shortly”.

Vicinity Centres, the owner of Northgate, did not respond to requests for comment.