Target to open small-format store in Chicago

MINNEAPOLIS — Another Target store is coming to downtown Chicago, as the retailer disclosed it would open a small-format store under the new CityTarget banner in the Sullivan Center at South State Street and Madison Street.

The company did not offer specifics on the square footage of the store or whether it would be a multilevel unit, but did indicate the store would open at some point in 2012. As for the product assortment, the company said, “CityTarget will offer guests the convenience of one-stop shopping with affordable fresh food, apartment essentials, on-trend fashions and exclusive designer collections.”

Target currently has 10 other stores in the Windy City, and the new downtown location will be less than one mile from an existing store located on the south side of downtown at 1154 Clark St. The Clark Street store offers a typical Target product assortment, including fresh food, a pharmacy and a health clinic. The company’s next closest store to downtown is in the McKinley Park Neighborhood at 1940 W. 33rd St., about four miles southwest of downtown.

As for the newest downtown location, it is part of a growth strategy disclosed by Target last year in which the reatiler indicated that one of its initiatives would involve opening more stores in urban locations. At that time, Seattle was disclosed as a market that would see an urban store in 2011.

The Chicago store will be located in a commercial property now known as Sullivan Center following a redevelopment project; the property also is widely known as the Carson Pirie Scott building after the defunct department store chain that once occupied it. The building was called one of the city’s more architecturally significant buildings by Mayor Richard Daley, who said Target would be an important addition to State Street.

“I applaud Target for bringing this urban store concept to Chicago, as well as the new jobs and economic opportunity this store will create,” Daley said.

John Griffith, Target EVP property development, said the company looks forward to preserving a Chicago treasure and blending in with the building’s aesthetic. “A hallmark of Target is our flexibility in store design, which allows us to bring high-quality products at great values to our urban guests,” Griffith said.