Target opening fifth small-format store on LI this weekend

Long Island's fifth small-format Target is set to open this weekend, bringing the retailer’s total number of area stores to 19.

A 43,000-square-foot store will open Sunday in Lawrence, the retailer said.

The Target will occupy combined space left vacant by two former tenants — Bed Bath & Beyond and H & M — in Bay Harbour Mall, a shopping center at 345 Rockaway Tpke.

Of Target Corp.’s more than 1,900 stores in the United States, more than 140 are small-format stores, the Minneapolis-based company said.

A small-format Target store is, on average, 1/3 the size of a full-size store — about 43,000 square feet compared with 130,000 square feet.

The company is focusing on adding more small-format stores to gain access to customers in urban areas and dense suburban communities, and near college campuses, where it would be more difficult to open full-size stores, the retailer said.

"In 2016, we had about 30 small-format stores. Today, we have 140 and will add another 30 to 40 per year over the next several years. If these stores were a standalone chain, their revenue would rival that of fast-growing chains with many more locations," Target chief executive Brian Cornell said during a March 2 earnings call with analysts.

The Lawrence store will include a Starbucks and employ about 90 people, Target said.

Operating from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, the store will sell clothes, home décor, health and beauty products, and some grocery items, and offer customers in-store pickup of merchandise purchased online, Target said.

The retailer also plans to open an approximately 70,000-square-foot store in part of a former Sears space in the Lake Success Shopping Center, at 1400 Union Tpke., in New Hyde Park. But Target declined to provide more details about the store, including its opening date.

In February 2020, the Town of North Hempstead's Board of Zoning Appeals approved a conditional-use permit to add grocery shelves and a Starbucks inside the planned New Hyde Park store, town spokeswoman Rebecca Cheng said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.