I need to drive by the Sorensen Park Plaza Target and see how that one is progressing in comparison..
They have had lights on in the Target up at Sorensen but no signage on the building yet. There is a Target sign and a Linen n' Things at entrances to the plaza
Also I think they have finished all the outside steel work for the buildings/stores to the south of Target and i think have started the movie theater complex.
A friend of mine who works at Target told me this past weekend (I had thought) that the signage was in place on the building at the Sorensen location..Perhaps I misunderstood..
Yeah, that 'opens' sign has been there since they starting working on it, but I don't think it's been mentioned here yet (seems like a long time to open, given where it seems to sit today).
And while it may look 'Soviet'... it's still the best looking Target I've ever seen (although I assume they've got some pretty cool looking stuff in Minneapolis somewhere). The use of stone, the curved entrance, some windows (what a concept), the 'rolling' balls... I like it.
Yeah, the downtown multilevel Target in Minneapolis is awesome. The escalators have attachments for your carts to go up and down with you.
I wish upon wishes that the next major development in DTO will be a huge multi-use office/hotel/condo/shopping facility taking up one of those giant Qwest Center parking lots (with twice as much parking IN the building), with a Target like this (and a Whole Foods) to anchor it. it would be a great use of the Swanson site, too.
Big E wrote:I wish upon wishes that the next major development in DTO will be a huge multi-use office/hotel/condo/shopping facility taking up one of those giant Qwest Center parking lots (with twice as much parking IN the building), with a Target like this (and a Whole Foods) to anchor it. it would be a great use of the Swanson site, too.
Mmm, this sounds familiar.
Anway, I've been talking to numerous people that have lived downtown and thinking about moving DT and the main issue that got them to move back to the burbs or second guessing themselves of moving DT is the lack of a grocrey store (in my sisters case a Target ). If we can get more stuff DT and then more people will make the move. But if more people don't move DT then the retailers won't want to move in. The way I see it, we are almost over a small hump where retailers are noticing the DTO market, but not yet sure if things are right yet. Once a grocery store moves in I'm sure more people will come and more and more stuff will follow.
I've been asked a hundred times "But what do you do for groceries?" and a hundred times I've said "I get in my car and drive to the store just like you do."
There's fewer people living in downtown Omaha than live on farms in Nebraska, but no one ever asks them what they do for groceries.
The new Target at the Crossroads is 2 levels, but the salesfloor is only one level. The lower level of the building is actually the dock and stockroom. I work at Target and going to the be working at the new store on Sorensen. Hopefully these pics will show up but here is a Target store in West Hollywood and a store I worked at a few days in Wichita.
But I must say the Crossroads store looks very nice.
I don't know the exact footage of both stores, but I would imagine the sales floor set up would be pretty close to each other, being built at the same time and all. Well the North 72nd street one will be about the same in square footage as the Bellevue store that opened in 2003, just a different layout for the sales floor. Though they're not super t's, the market section will be bigger than a normal Target stores market section. New prototypes from 2004 on have the larger markets.
I was in Crossroads today and it was pretty bad. While the facility is clean and relatively aesthetically pleasing (for a mall) the occupancy rate has to be down around 50%...at the very most.
Walking around was literally: store-empty space-empty space. Store-empty space - empty space.
You can no longer buy any music or DVD's at Crossroads mall.
I think the Target is only going to further hasten the decline of Crossroads, as you can get everything you get in a mall from Target.
Plus there were only like 20 people in the entire mall.
If Target was the answer, then every enclosed mall in the US would just close up shop..Right? (Rhetorical question)..
I disagree with you Swift..But time will tell..
I believe once Target opens July 23rd, it will begin the renaissance/rebirth of Crossroads..I already know I'm of the minority opinion around here regarding this subject..So we wont be regurgitating that discussion in this thread..
Lets just see what happens before we commit Crossroads to an impending doom..
I hope with the foot traffic that Target generates they will be able to fill more of the vacancies there. You've got some strong anchors, Target, Dillards, Sears and Barnes and Noble. Plus a very large Old Navy. They will need to have some new stores in place, or at least announce some commitments by Xmas season though. I hope it makes it. Central and East Omaha nead a strong prescence at 72nd and Dodge.
I think this will immensly help crossroads. A mall cannot be succesful if it doesn't have at least one main anchor store. The anchor store brings in people to shop at all the other small shops.
Uh, last I checked Crossroads already had two anchors. What may help in this case however, is that Target is more of a daily needs store. This should bring more foot traffic to the mall ("Oh, since I'm here, maybe I'll check out XYZ store too")
See, target didn't even have to worry about the Omaha by Design stuff, and went and made both this and the Sorensen buildings look quite nice on their own.
Asten wrote:See, target didn't even have to worry about the Omaha by Design stuff, and went and made both this and the Sorensen buildings look quite nice on their own.
Stupid walmart.
Target and their Guests Care way more abou their looks than WalMart and their Necks do.
MTO wrote:Is anyone going to this preview thing? My friend got a postcard to go see it on I think the 16th or 18th something like that.
I was thinking about it actually. I think it's open to all Target employees and I feel like I should go just because I can. It's on the 18th. The preview for both of the new Target stores is on that day actually. I'll try and sneak a few pictures if I can.
If it's like any other target (at least for the 5 years I worked there), it'll "soft" open to everyone, unnanounced, as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, before the official grand opening.
I went to both of the new Targets tonight but forgot my camera. They both follow Target's current design trends and are pretty much carbon copies of one another (minus the backroom placement). But if I'm not mistaken these are the only two Targets in the Omaha area that are composed of Targets current design trends. So if you haven't been to a brand new Target lately somewhere else, the experience for you would probably be more exciting than it was for me. They are considerably different than the other Targets in the Omaha area...er...at least in the details I noticed having been a Target employee for the past 4 years.
Yeah as Tito pointed out, these stores will have a new look for you guys in Omaha. As may have been discussed earlier...Interactive Camera "boat"(Target language), as opposed to being locked behind glass. Diapers/wipes and baby food are grouped in with the Infant dept. in softlines...and as Uffda said, the expanded grocieries. Basically the grocery section is close to a SuperTarget, just without the Produce/Deli/Bakery. Other new things you might notice is sliding doors and Red Walls and of course the Red balls out front.(gotta love those). So much red it might make you nauseous..so be warned!
This is the '04 prototype and is nothing new or unique as you may have been led to believe in various press releases and what not. Only unique thing might be the stockroom underneath the salesfloor as Tito also pointed out. They update the prototype every 3 or 4 years and this prototype has been in use since late '03. The SuperT at 180th & Center was one of the first to use the '01 prototype and when the store at 129th and Center remodeled in '03 they were one of the last to get the '01 prototype. Last I heard the SuperT at 132nd & Maple will be remodeled next year using this same '04 prototype.
Expect heavy traffic today along 72nd Street as Target Stores Inc. opens two new locations, at Crossroads Mall and Sorensen Park Plaza shopping center.
When the doors open at 8 a.m. at 72nd and Dodge Streets and the southwest corner of 72nd and Sorensen Parkway, shoppers will find expanded departments and merchandise, wider aisles, bigger and brighter display signs and what the company calls a "fun shopping experience."
"Guests can come in and accomplish what they want," he said. "They can get in and get out. The store layout is fast, fun and friendly."
At Crossroads, merchandise such as hardware, sports and electronics is on the perimeter of the store, while "soft" merchandise such as clothing, maternity and bedding are in the middle. At Sorensen Park Plaza, the hard and soft merchandise are side-by-side.
Thanks.
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