Target Corp. is set to open its first store in Manhattan later this month.

The discount store chain, which currently operates eight stores in New York City, plans to open its maiden Manhattan location on July 25 at the East River Plaza shopping center in the neighborhood of East Harlem. The store will also feature the expanded food assortment of Target's latest discount store prototype.

NEW YORK — Target Corp. is set to open its first store in Manhattan later this month.

Target Corp. is set to open its first store in Manhattan later this month.

The discount store chain, which currently operates eight stores in New York City, plans to open its maiden Manhattan location on July 25 at a shopping center in the neighborhood of East Harlem.

The outlet will cater to its urban customer base in a number of ways. The store’s home goods assortment will be geared for apartment dwellers, for example, with wider assortments of storage solutions, pillows and airbeds. The store will also carry an expanded assortment of multicultural products, including Spanish language and Ebony greeting cards, gospel and Latin music, Spanish language books and movies, religious candles and multicultural dolls.

In addition, the store will also feature the expanded food assortment of Target’s latest discount store prototype.

Located in the East River Plaza shopping center, the former factory site that also houses Costco Wholesale Corp.’s first Manhattan outlet, the new Target store is linked to the area’s mass transit via a pedestrian bridge.

To celebrate the store opening, Target is launching three lines of merchandise, collectively known as the Harlem Designer collections. The merchandise will make its debut at the new store and then be available a week later at selected Target outlets, most of them on the East Coast, as well as on the retailer’s web site.