UPDATE: Trio of National Chains Coming to OSU Campus
UPDATE: The small, urban-style Target in the middle of OSU campus area will be leasing space for a CVS convenience store along with a Starbucks. Two other leases are currently being finalized for unnamed tenants. Construction is expected to be completed in August 2018, according to Columbus Business First.
Original Article Published Sep. 6, 2016
16th Avenue & High Street. Where Bernie’s once stood, will be the home to OSU’s newest Target, set to open in July of 2018.
The store will be in the Wellington, an Edwards Communities development, and will be the company’s first ‘flexible-format’ in Columbus, according to The Dispatch.
The new store will be 28,000 square feet — nearly 1/6th of the size of an average Target which range from 135,000 to 175,000 for “Super Target” stores.
Originally Target’s flexible-format stores were once called Target Express but the name was changed to just “Target” after it sparked some confusion.
“It’s about a simplified experience for our guests,” said Erika Winkels, a Target spokeswoman said to Star Tribune. “It also helps guests understand that you’re not only limited to what’s in the four walls of that store.”
OSU’s Target will be a 19 bus minute ride or a 9 minute drive to the larger Target on Olentangy.
“Growth on college campuses and in urban markets is a priority for Target,” said Mark Schindele, senior vice president of properties at Target, in a statement. “We’re able to serve more guests by adding flexible-format stores near top universities across the country.”
Target’s smaller format OSU store will offer: fresh groceries, dorm and apartment essentials, personal care products, technology, men and women’s apparel, Buckeye apparel, and services like Target Mobile & Order Pickup.
How do you feel about this new Target? How will it affect business on High St. and are you likely to shop there? Sound off in the comments below.
Editor’s opinion: There are many sides to the argument about whether this new Target is a good or bad idea for students on campus. While many will see this as bad news for local business and the college experience, many will look at this and potentially think about how it can make the lives of college students “easier.”
The college experience is a term that’s thrown around to quantify that ‘other thing’ one purchases with tuition. You’re not just getting an education, you’re getting ‘the college experience.’ What is the college experience and how could you define it — part of it, to this writer at least, is an exploration and understanding of a new place, a new home.
There is something sincere and magic about a new student, with little or no understanding of Columbus and what it offers, to find it necessary to explore the nooks and crannies for things they might want or need. One could argue that a bit of that ‘magic’ is removed when something such as a Target makes things easier, which it surely will.
Whether or not the ‘local’ business will suffer is up to debate, especially considering the lack of ‘local’ business in the area — but what will suffer is the sense of awe and wonder an 18 year old kid feels after they’ve left their suburban home to come to a place that sits across the street from a Target.
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