How Target Is Using Small-Format Stores To Score With Younger Shoppers

For years, Target has been eying the college campus demographic with small-format concept stores, the first of which opened on the University of Minnesota’s campus in 2014. The 20,000 square foot store (then referred to as a TargetExpress was later rebranded as a “small-format store”) was one of just nine to open that year. Now three years later, CEO Brian Cornell said he hopes to double the amount of such stores, bringing the number to 30 by the end of the year, totaling more than 100 over the next three years. The new stores are part of a $7 billion investment to re-imagine Target’s physical store strategy, which also includes remodeling existing stores. The new small-format stores, which generally size between roughly 17,000–50,000 square feet, aim to target three key markets: urban centers, suburban areas and college campuses. Each of these environments presents its own needs and benefits for Target, but the retailer’s locations on college campuses are a particular push to go after growing millennial and Gen Z consumers, who present Target with a pre-segmented opportunity to build its brand with younger generations who will hopefully become lifelong customers even after they earn their diplomas. Read more at Retail Dive.