Retailer opens 45,000-square-foot store in Tribeca

NEW YORK — Target Corp. has brought its flexible format to Manhattan, opening a two-story, 45,000-square-foot store to serve millennials and other city dwellers in the trendy neighborhood of Tribeca.

The store is one of four flexible format stores Target opened on Wednesday. The other three are in Philadelphia; Cupertino, Calif.; and State College, Pa.

The openings mean that Target now operates 27 flexible format stores, which mainly range from 20,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet in size. That number is small compared to the 1,772 conventional Target stores, which typically measure 120,000 square feet or larger. But the flexible format will account for the lion’s share of Target’s expansion in the next few years. Fourteen of the 15 stores Target is opening this year are flexible format stores, which are mostly opening in urban neighborhoods and in college towns. By the end of 2017, Target expects to have about 60 of the smaller stores in operation.

In a blog post, Target described the Tribeca store as offering extensive apparel and beauty offerings, as well as home goods and groceries. In keeping with its location in a neighborhood where car ownership and use is limited, the store eschews the automotive departments common in full-size suburban Target stores. But it does feature an extensive offering of strollers and other products aimed at the young parents who live in the neighborhood.

Target’s order pickup service — which allows customers to select from a larger assortment of merchandise online, and pick them up at their local store — is available at the Tribeca store, according to the company, which says the outlet is also testing a new cash register queuing system and expanded self-checkout.