Target is strengthening its efforts in one of the more active markets in the country: North Texas.
The Minneapolis-based chain recently opened its first store in Dallas-Fort Worth since 2023 with a site in Denton — and is set to add several more in the region. It’s also using the local area as a test market for its own branded delivery trucks as part of its delivery services.
Target is stepping up in North Texas as it competes with rivals such as Walmart, H-E-B, Kroger — and many others — looking to grab open parcels of land around North Texas to get closer to customers and their changing tastes. In Texas, the national retailer has invested more than $640 million over roughly the last 10 years — and nearly $300 million was in the D-FW area, according to Amanda Vela Kraemer, senior vice president, Target Stores.
“I believe this is a continuation of our plan at Target — to be able to show up in communities that we haven’t been before, but also to be able to continue to evolve,” Vela Kraemer said.
That focus locally goes beyond the region. Texas has the most large-format Target stores of any state in the U.S.
D-FW deliveries
Its local investments in D-FW were put on display this past September with the launch of the branded trucks, a test unique to this market.
Target operates the new vans in the area. They are also larger vehicles that improve capacity and enable more efficient routes to test deliveries within an expanded roughly 90-mile radius of the market. The company’s last-mile delivery is typically handled via Shipt or local third-party mail carriers and partners.
“That has given us the ability to continue to drive down cost and ... decrease the wait time,” Vela Kraemer said.
The pilot was launched amid the company’s broader efforts with “Circle 360,” which lets customers sign up for same-day deliveries of online orders, among other features.
Store options
Target customers will see more physical stores as well in the region. The chain is set to open its Wynnewood Village retail site in the fall before the holiday shopping season — an awaited addition for the Oak Cliff area in the southern area of Dallas.
Another Texas store, this one in the Houston area, is slated to open this year as well.
There are three other sites slated for D-FW, including Fort Worth, Forney and Little Elm, but exact opening times aren’t set right now.
“We move fast and open a lot of stores,” Vela Kraemer said.
The new store in North Denton opened last month — and sits near the intersection of University Drive near I-35, an area with retailers such as Walmart and WinCo Foods.
The retail site is part of a new “cycle” of stores that include two other sites outside Texas, she said. Overall, the company has said it is planning to open over 300 new stores in roughly the next decade.
The Denton site takes some new approaches to its retail experience. For example, there’s a broad area for parents and their children on the western side of the store. The kids’ clothing section is near the book section for younger readers — separating them from the media section for all ages. Crafts and toys are close as well.
“We’ve moved some departments around to try to help flow with who our guest is,” she said.
There’s also a mother’s room nearby for nursing and privacy. And that’s close to a revamped fitting room, which includes roomier spaces for families.
In the back of the store, there’s an area tailored for in-store e-commerce orders. That includes a packing area with different boxing options. Also, more popular items are stacked up so workers don’t have to go out into the main store to retrieve them.
At the front, there’s a large room tucked behind customer service for filling drive-up orders. It’s located near where the cars pull up and lets workers gather products and put them on racks for when customers arrive. A cold storage room is for perishable items such as milk and ground beef — and this all cuts the number of footsteps needed to get to customers in their vehicles.
The store at North Denton employs about 200 people.
“The beauty of this location is it really is a mix up of so many different guests,” Vela Kraemer said. “It’s the suburban family. It is some of our more rural guests that haven’t had a Target before. It’s students from UNT (University of North Texas). It is medical professionals.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story didn’t properly describe the number of Target stores in Texas compared with other states. The story has been corrected.
