OUT OF THE BIG BOX

The idea of a massive store that looks the same in every region is a thing of the past, at least for Target. In its place is a highly curated version tailored for dense urban areas. “How do we keep our store experience relevant?” asks Mark Schindele, Target’s SVP of properties. “We customize, we evolve, and we understand our guests.”

In 2017, Target will roll out 28 new flexible-format stores, double the number it opened in 2016. The company’s first small-store effort, City Target, which launched in six locations in 2012, averaged about 100,000 square feet, still too big a footprint for major cities. The company faced a challenge: how to condense even more while providing customers with a total Target experience. Flex formats shrink the size to as little as 12,000 square feet and tailor merchandise to specific neighborhoods. They also dropped the special moniker: All Targets, regardless of the size or shape, would be known as Target.

Manhattan got its first flex-format Target in October, in the Tribeca neighborhood, which has been flooded with stylish young families. The two-story outpost emphasizes apparel, toddler, and baby sections. (It’s also the only Target so far to include a Chobani yogurt café in place of the now-standard Starbucks.)

Target, which once stood for consistency and endless choice, now wants to be adaptable, streamlined, and quick—the company can research a new site and have doors open within a year. “We look at what needs aren’t being met by a neighborhood,” Schindele says. “And then we meet them.”