Beckham’s a smoothie

It’s all about fresh, delightful and innovative concepts this summer at the new Target stores.

You might already have noticed that change was afoot in the mega-retailer’s stores earlier this year in southwest Ohio.

I, for one, am thrilled, as I have always been a Target devotee. I buy almost everything now and then at the stores. I used the pharmacy at the Sugarcreek Twp. location, for instance, to fill an antibiotic prescription when I suffered miserably from bronchitis last winter.

And just last week, I checked out the Shops at Target in both the Miami Twp. and Beavercreek locations.

Target has teamed up with small-business owners to create an upscale, yet affordable, line of goods for Target.

The Shops at Target basically put products from boutiques and specialty shops around the country in stores for six-week runs. (This is very similar to the pop-up shops in downtown Dayton I reported about last winter.)

The first round of shops at Target include San Francisco’s The Candy Store, Aspen’s Cos Bar; Boston’s Polka Dog Bakery; Connecticut’s Privet House; and Miami’s The Webster — a hot line of fashion-forward women’s and men’s attire.

The second wave of pop-up Shops at Target starts Sept. 9 and will include New York’s Odin — which Fashionista.com describes as a “one-stop shop for cool, stylish-yet-masculine men’s clothing” — and The Curiosity Shoppe, a San Francisco home interiors store.

On an unrelated note: Burger King has launched a new celebrity-driven ad campaign. Yes … David Beckham can indeed sell fruit smoothies. My friend tells me they are quite good.

Other finds

And winter clothes, I have noticed, are still being offered at 75 percent off or more. I found a sweet hot-pink dress with a nipped-in waist and flirty skirt on sale recently at Banana Republic at the Greene Town Center in Beavercreek. This cocktail dress was from the winter “Mad Men”-inspired line at the store. I did not have time to try the frock on, so I passed.

I did, however, purchase a turquoise Ponte knit pencil skirt at Express for about 80 percent off its original price of $89. That will suffice for a “Mad Men”-inspired cocktail party.