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Ala Moana Center retailers hope Target’s new Honolulu store opening on Oct. 18 will breathe new life into the mauka wing of the mall.
The Minneapolis-based retailer will open Hawaii’s first “small-format” store in the former Nordstrom space on Kapiolani Boulevard, a block away from big-box rival Walmart.
“We’re all really excited for it. I think it will bring in more business for us,” said Vanlea Do, a manager at the neighboring Guess store. “When Nordstrom left at first it got really dead. It was super slow. I feel like with Target now, because of its wide range of customers, they’ll be able to bring in more traffic.”
OFF 5TH, the discount brand of Saks Fifth Avenue, opened earlier this year on the ground level of the former Nordstrom space. That store, at 41,000 square feet, occupies about 20 percent of of the 210,000 square feet made available when Nordstrom moved last year. The upscale department chain relocated to a 185,000-square-foot space in the mall’s new Ewa wing that also includes Hawaii’s first Bloomingdale’s.
ON TARGETTarget will open its Ala Moana store next week. Here are the events:
>> Oct. 17: Ribbon cutting; private event with Target store leaders and invited community guests, 5-9 p.m.
>> Oct. 18: Store opens to public, 8 a.m.
>> Oct. 22: Grand opening, 8 a.m. In-store celebration; complimentary reusable bags to be distributed to the first 1,000 guests.
After Nordstrom’s move, retailers in the mauka wing “definitely saw a significant drop in traffic,” said Kelci Shiigi, a manager at the nearby Bare Minerals makeup store.
“We haven’t had an anchor in over a year now since Nordstrom left,” she said. “A lot of people don’t even realize that the stores are over here because we’re offset from the mall with the road going through (the center). It’s almost like we’re not part of the mall. We’re really hoping it’s going to help pick up traffic not only from tourists but local customers and bring them over to this side.”
Like its other locations, Target will sell apparel, electronics, health and beauty products, home accessories, toys, sporting goods and fresh groceries, including organic produce. A CVS Pharmacy and Starbucks also will operate within the store.
The 139,500-square-foot outlet, with about 450 workers, is the retailer’s fourth store on Oahu and seventh location in the islands.
The retailer has three stores on Oahu, one near Pearl Harbor, another in Kailua and a third in Kapolei. It also has two stores on the Big Island, one in Hilo and another in Kona, and a third on Maui, in Kahului.
“It’ll be good because Target is such a draw, especially having it on the street side,” Shiigi said. “People will know and identify that that’s a wing in the mall.”
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