With
the opening of the new smaller Target store ( the City Target and Target
Express monikers as well as the larger Super
Target names have been abandoned by the retailer) in the former Ralph's Market at Long
Beach 's Iron Triangle corner ( PCH/2nd/ Bellflower
The
large white tent in the parking lot outside the former garden center of the
Target has sparked the interest of shoppers on local social networks.
The
remodel to the Los Altos Target will include three major additions, the change
of the Target Pharmacy into a CVS Pharmacy, a Starbucks and a new healthy food
option.
In
December of 2015, CVS paid $ 1.9 billion to Target to take over the in-store
pharmacies. The sale comes as Target tries to refocus to its core business
under new CEO Brian Cornell after an expensive and disastrous attempt to expand into Canada that ended in a $5 billion dollar loss as
it closed all of its stores in Canada
The
first conversion of a Target Pharmacy to CVS took place in February 2016 with
plans to convert the over 1,600 Target Pharmacies to CVS Pharmacies by the
winter of this year. Target Pharmacies
have already started to sell out of the Target
brands of over-the-counter drugs.
According
to employees, the Los Altos Target CVS expects to be fully integrated into the
CVS online prescription system by sometime in March 2016.
Also
coming with the Los Altos Target update will be a Starbucks. Target signed a deal with Starbucks in 2002
and began placing the coffee stores in new and remodeled stores in 2003.
Finally, employees beleive the Los Altos Target may be getting a new "healthy sandwich" cafe as
Target jumps on the healthy food bandwagon while giving up their own Target Cafes. That however could nto be confirmed.
Target has been testing three
options in stores for replacing its company run Target Cafes.
The Los Altos Target remodel
options do present some challenges from local competition as destinations aside from the eaiser access CVS across Stearns and the drive-thru CVS at the Traffic Circle.
Starbucks already has one
store in the Los Altos
North Center
Finally, the long-shot, but
most likely big draw a Pret A Manger would compete with the near-by Lazy Acres Cafe and self-cooking health conscious Trader Joes shoppers.
When the company announced
the new healthy strategy and closing its Target Cafe's they announced each site
would be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
