Valley Stream Target construction finished, doors open

After being closed for more than six months during renovations, the Valley Stream Target store reopened its doors earlier this month with a few more amenities and a few more square feet to show its customers.

The store, which shut down on April 29, had a soft opening on Nov. 8 and its grand opening on Nov. 11. As customers entered the remodeled store for the first time they might have noticed some of the changes in its layout, as well as the products now being sold.

The biggest change, Michael Cannata, a regional human resource business partner for Target, said is the addition of fresh produce, meat and pre-packaged baked goods that the store now offers. Cannata estimated that the Valley Stream location’s food section offers about 90 percent of the items that a customer could find at a Super Target, which has a full grocery store component.

“It’s meant to be a destination for the guest for those fill-in purchases,” Cannata said of the new food section, “maybe trips in between the grocery store.”

The front of the store was moved out 60 feet and Cannata said the store added 14,000 square feet. With some of the extra space a Starbucks was added, which has been a big hit with customers.

Anaele Hernandez, a ninth-grader at Memorial Junior High School, likes the new amenities Target has to offer. “It’s great that they chose to put a Starbucks inside of the Target,” she said. “It gives my friends and I a good place to take a break after lots of shopping.”

Resident Valeria Weiland said she is happy to see the additions of the Starbucks and a grocery section. “I’m glad I can go there and do all my shopping in once,” she said.

The outside of the store was also completely redone with a new design and a reconfigured parking lot that now stretches further out. Valley Stream resident Christopher DeVoe said he liked the new Target, but the lot is tough to navigate. “The parking lot is a little worse,” he said. “It sort of disconnects it from the mall.”

The store’s inside is now completely reconfigured and the shelves were lowered in many sections to allow customers to see more items. Also, there are now 20 checkout counters, while the old store had 28. Cannata said that some of the counters weren’t being used in the old layout so they decided to use the space differently.

“Prior to the remodel, I think it felt a little bit different,” Cannata said, “whether it be fixtures or food not being a part of it, now it’s everything that if you went to any of the other Target stores in the area you would have.”

According to Cannata, the Valley Stream location is one of 230 Target stores that have been updated to the new format so far. Target spokeswoman Molly Snyder told the Herald in April that the Valley Stream store is one of two locations in the country that was not a Target “prototype,” meaning the locations were picked up from other retailers.

The Valley Stream Target store was formerly a Caldor, while the other location, in Portland, Oregon, was formerly a Montgomery Wards.

While other Target locations have remained opened during construction, Snyder said that the Valley Stream location was being completely redesigned and needed to be shut down.