What You’ll See in Center City’s New Target

A mural inside the new Chestnut Street Target. (Photo: Dan McQuade)

The wait is finally over. Center City has a Target.

The new Target, located at 1128 Chestnut Street, is one of the discount chain’s 23 “flexible format” stores and the first located in Philadelphia. It is the 35th Target in the Philadelphia area.

The store can be entered from either Chestnut or Sansom Street, and is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturdays and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays.

It’s smaller that an average Target, which is around 130,000 square feet. The one on Chestnut Street is just 19,000 — which means it won’t be selling big-screen televisions, couches or other big-ticket items you’d find at a Target store.

Instead, it focuses on smaller products — including many “grab and go” items for purchase. “It’s not just taking a big store and shrinking it,” Target public relations manager Erika Winkels says, “but it’s looking at the community closely and looking at what that store needs.”

For downtown Philadelphia, that means the store sells groceries, health and beauty supplies, baby products, a small selection of men’s and women’s clothing (mostly athleisure wear currently), small tech accessories, greeting cards and smaller home products primarily aimed at those who live in condos and apartments. There is also a CVS Pharmacy in the store and a full-size Starbucks at the back.

There’s also a limited selection of Philly souvenirs and sports gear at the front of the store (though Target apparently accidentally ordered Travis Kelce Kansas City Chiefs jerseys for the sports memorabilia section instead of Jason Kelce Philadelphia Eagles jerseys). Check-out is done in a single queue, and there are multiple self-checkout locations.

Inside the new Target on Chestnut Street. (Photo: Dan McQuade)

“The idea,” says Winkels, “is to make the store ‘locally relevant.’” Target says it doesn’t try to step on the toes of other small businesses — a flex-format Target in San Diego doesn’t sell books because it’s on the same block as a beloved bookstore, per Winkels — and it tries to sell products that are useful for the local audience.

Though the Target doesn’t sell big-ticket items, customers can still get them, via a kiosk that lets customers order for in-store pickup. Winkels says a few of the residents of the new apartments above the store have already inquired about getting couches or TVs.

The new Target employs 60 people, and business appeared to already be brisk on the store’s first day. And its location—which for decades was a lineup of dollar stores and sneaker shops—is going a bit more upscale: A flagship state store (Fine Wine & Good Spirits) is moving in next door. Even the sneaker store on the block, Lapstone & Hammer, is an upscale spinoff run by the son of a founding partner of City Blue.

This is not the only flexible-format Target coming to the area. One opens seven blocks away, in Rittenhouse Square, on October 5th. Roxborough is getting one in March of next year, and another outpost is coming to the former Whole Foods spot on Callowhill in October 2017.