Target Eyes Smaller Stores in Two-Year Growth Plan

MINNEAPOLIS — Target Corp. plains to open mainly smaller stores in urban areas in 2016 and 2017, reported the Sioux Falls Business Journal.

The new stores planned for 2016 are located primarily in and around New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago and range in size from 19,000 square feet to 45,000 square feet on two stories. Several California stores are also planned.

Only one full-size, 122,000-square-foot Target in Allentown, Pa., is scheduled to open in 2016. All of the stores scheduled to open in 2017 are smaller, urban stores.

The full list of new Target locations is available here.

Target continues to focus on its smaller format stores, even as it announced in the summer that it was streamlining the names of its retailer properties to end consumer confusion. As a result, CityTarget and Target Express banners will be eliminated and all stores will be rebranded Target, as CSNews Online previously reported.

"It's about a simplified experience for our guests," Erika Winkels, a Target spokeswoman, said in August. "It also helps guests understand that you're not only limited to what's in the four walls of that store."