Sunday, May 11, 2008

JSOnline: Target takes aim downtown - Discount chain looking at 3 sites

Despite the doom and gloom you are reading about regarding stores closing (e.g. Linens & Things, Home Depot, etc.), it’s refreshing to read stories about stores considering a move into the area, like Target.

However, this isn’t the first time Target has been shopping for a downtown presence. Although they seemed serious about this location in the past, they later backed off and basically said they were not interested in downtown Milwaukee.

The current economic slowdown would likely delay this national chain from moving forward in the downtown community; at least until the national retail climate improves.

For now, it seems that Target is showing preliminary interest in opening a store in downtown Milwaukee.

Although a company spokesman for Target has declined to comment on this topic, it appears that Target is considering three locations (according to people familiar with the process). The possible locations include:

1) Three-acre parking lot south of Michigan Street, between Plankinton and Second Street, across the street from the Shops of Grand Avenue.

2) Two-acre parking lot, owned by the city, located south of Wisconsin Avenue, between Fourth and Fifth Streets, across the street from the Midwest Airlines Center.

3) Six acres located north of the Bradley Center and south of Juneau Avenue, between Fourth and Sixth Streets where the former Park East Freeway once stood.

Tom Daykin, writer for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, writes more about Target’s future in downtown Milwaukee. Click here to read the entire article>>>

In a similar article posted on OnMilwaukee.com (titled “Kohl’s Chair: “Not enough going on downtown””), writer Andrew Wagner, criticized Kohl's Department Stores chairman Larry Montgomery’s response about the possibility of building a store in the Downtown area. According to Wagner, Montgomery not only flat-out dismissed the notion; he also made one ridiculous comment: "There's not enough going on downtown for us to put a store there.” As you can imagine, Wagner, who lives downtown, spends the remaining part of the article to defend all there is to do in downtown and compares the downtown lifestyle to the Menomonee Falls lifestyle (where Kohl’s Corporation is located). Click here to read Wagner’s argument regarding our home-town store>>>


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posted by David Ray @ 6:20 PM

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