This weekend, Manhattan will be home to not one, but four Target shops. The “Bullseye Bodegas,” which officially opened to the public this morning, first hosted a crowd of 650, including Michelle Trachtenberg, Emmy Rossum, and Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld, Wednesday night during a party at the West 57th Street location.
Target has, somewhat infamously, never set up permanent residence on the island of Manhattan. Over the last decade the brand has positioned itself as a higher-end alternative to rival chains, partnering with big names in fashion and home decor like Proenza Schouler and Dwell. But without a brick and mortar outlet to score these popular limited-edition lines, New Yorkers have had to journey outside Manhattan or wait for infrequent pop-ups like the Target boat that docked at Chelsea Piers for the 2002 holiday season or the temporary Times Square boutique in October 2004. This time around, the retailer hopes to capitalize on the buzz of Fashion Week with four simultaneous pop-ups taking on the heavily branded guise of the company’s small urban equivalent, the corner bodega.
To pull off the look of an everyday deli while maintaining the brightly colored whimsy consumers associate with Target, designer David Stark photographed bodegas around the city for inspiration. "It's interesting to look at something that most people don't really pay attention to from a design perspective," he said. "When designing a retail space, you have to be able to inspire visitors to do what they're supposed to do, and that's shop. Aisles have to be spaced accordingly, and instead of typical elements used for events, you have to use the merchandise in the decor."
That merchandise is tucked into racks that look like open refrigeration units and islands. Stark also designed packaging for a host of fake products that were displayed as labels on cans or on giant facades intended to look like shelving. "What's different about a pop-up store is that you know what the product is in advance," he said. "It's very specific and you can design the space with a product in mind. Regular stores have to be able to accommodate an evolving roster of products."
Products from Target’s current roster of 22 designers, including Liz Lange, Converse One Star, Jonathan Saunders, Thomas O’Brien, and John Derian, are all up for sale at each of the bodegas, with many of the available collections not making their way to Target stores until later this fall. The four locations in Midtown, Union Square, SoHo, and the East Village are open today through Monday, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
