In many municipalities, zoning has restrictions on how large a particular type of building use can be.  For instance, in some zoning districts in New York City, food stores and clothing stores are limited to 10,000 square feet of floor area per establishment.  This is a limiting factor for many big box stores that are unable to fit all of their standard products in that amount of space. 

Target is working to address this problem as a strategy for increasing urban and suburban market penetration.  They have focused their efforts on creating smaller-format stores that fit into a downscaled footprint, which will allow them to fit into more compact locations.  Specifically, they have created new flexible formats that that will enable them to fit into places that have restrictions on the size of retail stores.  Their new CityTarget stores are designed to be as small as 80,000 square feet, while their Target Express stores are designed to be as small as 20,000 square feet.  This is substantially smaller than typical Target stores, which are usually around 140,000 square feet, and SuperTargets, which can be as large as 177,000 square feet. 

In the next two years, 19 of Target’s planned 21 stores are going to be less than 50,000 square feet in size.  In order to meet the customer’s needs in smaller spaces, these stores have specialized products.  For instance, their new Silicon Valley store will have an emphasis on tech products and their new Penn State store will focus on dorm supplies.

Two new small-format Target stores coming to Long Island

On a local scale, Target is planning on opening two downsized stores in Freeport and Elmont on Long Island this Fall; these stores will be 46,000 square feet and 24,500 square feet, respectively.  In an interview with the Long Island Herald, Mark Schindele, Senior Vice President of Properties for Target said “New York is a priority market for Target, so we’re thrilled to have found two great store locations on Long Island. Through Target’s flexible format stores, we’re able to build customized stores in urban centers to suit each neighborhood’s wants and needs, and we look forward to serving guests in Elmont and Freeport.”

Since Milrose is familiar with each municipality’s regulations—as well as their respective filing processes— Milrose was hired to work as the Expediter and Code/Zoning Consultant for both of the new Long Island store locations. [Twice, Newsday]

For more information on local regulations and filing processes in Long Island, please contact our Long Island office.