Target will hold a grand opening next month for two small-format stores in Orange County — one in Costa Mesa and another in Huntington Beach.
The 37,000-square-foot Costa Mesa store, at 289 E. 17th St., previously was a Ross Dress For Less department store, while the 34,000-square-foot Huntington Beach location at 19041 Beach Blvd. used to be a Stein Mart. Both are opening Sunday, April. 3.
Both of Orange County’s newest Targets fall into the retailer’s “small-format” category. Such locations can be as small as 15,000 square feet but typically average around 40,000 square feet. Target’s big-box stores average 130,000 square feet.
Small-format locations offer men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, home decor, groceries, health and beauty items and tech accessories, but in a downsized format. The stores are typically located in dense urban and suburbans areas, as well as on college campuses where the company couldn’t fit a full-sized store.
The Minneapolis-based retailer is looking to fill a variety of jobs at the Costa Mesa and Huntington Beach locations, ranging from sales clerks to security specialists. The company didn’t say how many openings there are, but applicants can view the various positions at jobs.target.com/costa-mesa by clicking on the Search Jobs + tab.
Last month, Target announced it will spend another $300 million on wages and benefits in 2022 as the competition for labor heats up. The lowest starting wage will remain at $15 an hour, the company said, but some new employees could earn as much as $24 an hour depending on the job and local market.
More are coming
The company’s website shows more small-format locations will be coming to Southern California, although the company hasn’t posted a timeline for the openings. They include:
– A 34,000-square-foot store at 220 N. La Brea Ave. in Inglewood
– A 54,000-square-foot store at 5731 Bickett St. in Huntington Park
– A 17,440-square-foot store at 609 N. Dillon St. in Los Angeles
– A 76,000-square-foot store at 12121 Victory Blvd. in North Hollywood
Target began unveiling its small-format stores in 2014. The downsized outlets target shoppers who don’t want to travel far to get to the store and who don’t necessarily want to thread their way through one of the company’s bigger stores.
John J. Mulligan, Target’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, offered his thoughts on the concept in early 2020:
“We built a process to localize the assortment for each neighborhood, but at scale,” Mulligan told investors. “And we reoriented our supply chain to replenish these stores as the backroom space got smaller and smaller. We plan to open about 30 of these stores a year for the foreseeable future.”
Target has small-format stores scattered throughout Southern California in locations including Mission Viejo, Anaheim, Orange Burbank, Koreatown and Los Angeles.
Target has 1,926 U.S. stores, 49 supply-chain facilities and 20 office locations worldwide that employ more than 350,000 workers. The company’s website shows Target posted $106 billion in total revenue for 2021, a gain of more than 35% from two years ago.