Target to open 11 new U.S. stores in July, bolstering turnaround plans

Target will open 11 new U.S. stores in July, with locations spread across Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah. Six of the openings will be in stores larger than 140,000 square feet, and many will carry Target’s newer food-forward mix of fresh produce, meat and dairy.

The openings are part of a much larger 2026 reset. On March 3, Target said it would make an incremental $2 billion investment this year, including more than $1 billion in additional capital expenditures and $1 billion in additional operating investments. The plan calls for more than 30 new stores, more than 130 full-store remodels and more than 300 new stores by 2035. Target also said its 2,000th U.S. store would open in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina, in March, a milestone that sits just beyond the 1,995 stores the company had as of January 31.

That scale matters on the sales floor, not just in the company’s store count. Target says its typical store averages about 125,000 square feet, while the company is shifting toward larger formats that better support same-day services. The July openings are being backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in additional store payroll and training, which means leaders will be building teams, accelerating onboarding and cross-training workers while keeping shelves full and service standards steady from opening week onward.

Target has framed the new stores as part of a push to deliver an elevated guest experience and good-paying jobs. That message lands differently for team members when the stores are larger, the assortments are broader and the fresh-food departments are expected to perform from day one. In fourth quarter 2025, Target said Food & Beverage, Beauty and Toys all posted net sales growth, while same-day delivery powered by Target Circle 360 grew more than 30 percent, giving the company a clearer reason to keep leaning into convenience and grocery execution.

The retailer is still small relative to the footprint it already has, but the pace is picking up. Target had opened 13 stores so far this year, and it is targeting about 2 percent net sales growth in 2026 after three years of declines. That has made each store opening part of a broader operating test: whether new formats, better staffing and faster training can translate into cleaner execution on the floor and a steadier business overall.