If you've recently stopped in at the Target at The District in Tustin, you might have seen the not-so-subtle signage: They're closing it from July 12-16 to do a store makeover, reopening July 17th.
Now you might think to yourself, “This Target's barely a few years old and already a remodel?” Yes, Virginia, there is CEO with grand visions of change. In a bid to cater to customer wants, Target has slowly been converting its stores to offer fresh foods. The company is spending roughtly $1 billion to remodel about 340 stores this year.
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It's competitor, Walmart, also has plans to get in even deeper into the grocery game. The retail giant, which has traditionally boasted stores that sprawl 100,000 square feet, will start opening smaller stores with a foot print as small as 20,000 square feet with a focus on groceries.
The figures don't lie: grocery sales make up a bulk of Target and Walmart's sales.
So what does Target consider “fresh food”? Check out other Targets around the area and you'll see that it means fruits mostly, which is featured front-and-center at the gateway of their new grocery area like a homing beacon. The concept has already been rolled at select stores like this one (see above pic) a few blocks away in Irvine, which has had their fresh food section installed for more than a few months.
Also offered are packaged beef, ground chicken, and other essentials like eggs, butter and bacon.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.