Target Leaning Into Big Boxes With Planned 300-Store Expansion
Target plans to expand its footprint across the country with more of its traditional, large-format stores.
The Minneapolis-based retailer has a plan to open 300 stores within the next 10 years, with the majority of them full-sized, Target CEO Brian Cornell said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Tuesday. The expansion was first reported by CoStar.
“We're excited about the pipeline,” Cornell said. “It will be more larger size stores, there will be a broader food offering and we're going to be moving into trade areas where we can pick up incremental volume and market share because we, in many cases, just haven't competed in these trade areas in the past.”
The big-box retailer has been growing its small-store footprint over the past decade in an attempt to reach denser markets like New York City and Los Angeles. At the end of 2022, it unveiled a new mega-store concept with footprints about 20K SF larger than Target's average size of 130K SF.
Target Chief Financial Officer Michael Fiddelke said the 300 new stores would “meaningfully” extend the company’s reach into new neighborhoods. Ten years from now, he expects those stores to be generating around $15B annually.
Target had 1,956 stores as of Feb. 3, according to its Q4 earnings report. The vast majority of those were within the 50K SF to 169K SF range, 273 were 170K and larger, and 141 were 49.9K SF or less.
The company reported 1.7% year-over-year revenue growth during Q4, totaling $31.9B.
Shopping centers are having an easy time filling second-generation, anchor-sized stores, a number of retail owners reported on their Q4 earnings calls. As retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and Rite-Aid shut hundreds of stores last year, a sluggish constriction pipeline means those spaces are in demand, with owners increasing rents by as much as 60%.
