Target aims for July completion

While it won’t morph into a Super Target layout, which ranges from 175,000 to 200,000 square feet, comparable to a Wal-Mart Super Center with a full grocery department, Springfield’s Target will more closely resemble the Target that opened March 5 in Branson. There will be increased inventory in the food department, and a revamped floor plan will provide more space for each department.

“We’ll have new, modern, up-to-date fixtures like the newer Target stores,” said Dan Ringger, store manager for Springfield’s Target. “The guest service area with check lanes will be all new. It will be quite a bit yet to change.”

RSP Architects, of Minneapolis, is the architect and S.M. Wilson, of Kansas City, is the general contractor. Universal Mechanical Inc. is the plumbing contractor, Bill’s Electric Inc. is the electrical engineer, and Benso Inc. is the mechanical engineer.

The additional square footage will put the store at a total of 125,000 square feet, the same as the new Target in Branson.

When shoppers at Branson’s Target enter the store and turn left, they find Starbucks and Pizza Hut Express. Springfield’s store, Ringger said, will not have a Pizza Hut Express, but Starbucks will be at the front of the store, approximately where the guest services counter was located before construction began.

The new Starbucks, however, isn’t a franchise, as that’s not how the coffee company operates.

“We have licensed stores in a variety of different channels, such as hotels and resorts, colleges and universities, hospitals, casinos, airports and grocery stores around the country,” said Nick Davis, spokesman for Starbucks Coffee Co.’s corporate office in Seattle. “Currently we have more than 2,600 licensed stores around the country.”

Target will oversee the licensed Starbucks location, with workers hired by Target.

Building permits filed with the city of Springfield placed the project’s value at $4 million, but Target officials wouldn’t confirm.

This is the second set of alterations for the 10-year-old store.

“About two years ago we had what we called a right-sizing project with the coolers, adding more consumable products like frozen pizzas and ice cream and things like that. Before it was pretty much dry goods,” Ringger said.

Those coolers were placed along the store’s south wall, which is where a pharmacy is being built.

“Guests have really been asking for a pharmacy,” Ringger said.

The entrance of Branson’s Target store, with a two-story glass front and large, red concrete spheres lining the curb, is part of the prototype being constructed for brand new stores.

“The Springfield store should be seeing that as well,” said Joshua Thomas, spokesman for Target Corp. in Minneapolis. “It brings in the natural light and kind of opens up the storefront and makes it a more attractive store.”

Springfield’s guest services department, previously along the front wall of the store, is being moved to the snack bar area. Instead of a single counter, guest services is tucked into its own department with more space and computers for customers to access wedding and baby gift registries.

Other changes to the Springfield store’s layout, Thomas said, will bring the store up to date with the companywide prototype stores. Departments within the newer stores are situated by category, making the shopping experience more convenient for customers, he said.

The Mom & Baby World department.

“If you’re ever been to a shopping center with children, trying to get all of that merchandise that you need and trying to run from one end of the store to another is a big inconvenience,” Thomas said. “(Mom & Baby World) is all the products you’ll need if you’re the parent of a young child. It’s diapers, formula, furniture, so you’re not taking your cart from one end of the store to the other.”

The electronics department, currently on the store’s west wall, is another example.

“Entertainment World is kind of our fun hub of the store, where you’ll find movies, music, electronics, books and magazines,” Thomas said. The department is along the back center wall in the Branson store, but an exact location for Springfield wasn’t confirmed.

Ringger doesn’t anticipate needing many additional employees once the expansion is completed.

“The new pharmacy will need probably four or five technicians, and several team members in Starbucks,” he said. The store currently employs about 40 full-time and 160 part-time workers.