Target Hosts ‘Soft Opening’ on Tuesday Night to Give Preview of New Store

DOYLESTOWN, PA—The new Target in the Doylestown Shopping Center held a soft opening night for employees and local officials on Tuesday night, just a few days before the store opens to the public.

In a sea of red shirts that are the trademark uniform of Target’s employees, there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 5 p.m. The store welcomed about 150 VIGs (very important guests) to a preview event.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE FREE TAPINTO.NET NEWSLETTER

The official opening for the store takes place on Sunday, July 21, at 8:00 a.m.

Store Director Josh Wheaton said the chain is excited to bring the bullseye to Doylestown. Wheaton noted that the Doylestown store is one of the few in the chain that has an Ulta Beauty shop inside.

“Not many Target stores have an Ulta inside,” Wheaton said, “so it’s pretty cool that Target has that partnership.”

The Doylestown location also has a Starbucks Café, which was serving food and drinks on Tuesday night, and a CVS. It also has a grocery or market section.

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TAPINTO APP FOR MORE LOCAL NEWS. AVAILABLE IN THE APPLE STORE AND THE GOOGLE PLAY STORE .

The soft opening wasn’t officially open to the public. It was instead held for employees and contractors who had worked on the store, along with elected officials from Doylestown Borough and local business owners.

While some guests could be seen touring the store with family and friends, others were shopping. A small number of registers—both full- and self-serve—were open on Tuesday night.

A handful of employees could also be seen working in the store as they made last-minute changes to product displays.

The Doylestown store occupies about half of the shopping center and occupies space previously occupied by Bon-Ton and Essentials Spa. While the new location is one of the larger stores in the borough, it’s nowhere near the size of Target’s biggest locations.

By Target’s definition, the Doylestown store, which is just under 75,000 square feet, is too big to be considered a “small” store. (The chain’s small stores usually have less than 50,000 square feet.)

But the Doylestown location is also nowhere near the size of a “Super” Target. Those giants typically clock in at about 150,000 square feet.

“This is a small format,” Wheaton said, but it’s one of the bigger small-format stores in the chain.

The Doylestown store will be Target’s 78th location in Pennsylvania. The company opened its first store in the state in 1998.

It will have about 100 part-time employees.

Want more news like this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters online.

For more local news, visit TAPinto.net