Target uses soft opening to prep second Wilmington store teams

The new Target at 5623 Carolina Beach Road was already teaching its 140-person crew how the store works before the doors fully swung open. The 128,000-square-foot location in the Village at Myrtle Grove held a preview event May 12 and spent the rest of the week in soft-opening mode, with hours from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., giving managers and new hires a chance to work through the building’s daily rhythm before traffic ramps up.

Alyssa Hutton, Target’s district senior director, said the soft opening helps the crew get its bearings. That matters on a store launch because the first days set the pace for guest experience, backroom flow and team confidence. In practice, this kind of preview period lets leaders check choreography, staffing and service touches while the store is still adjusting to real guest demand instead of the pressure of a full grand opening.

The Monkey Junction opening also showed how Target now thinks about new stores as operating hubs, not just selling space. The company says its typical stores average about 125,000 square feet, while larger-format locations are designed to better support same-day fulfillment and its stores-as-hubs strategy. Target says its stores fulfill 95% of digital orders, and same-day delivery through Target Circle 360 reaches 80% of the U.S. population. For workers, that translates into a store that has to handle everyday essentials, food, style, pickup orders and delivery handoffs at the same time.

Hundreds of residents, employees and elected officials showed up for the preview event, underscoring how visible the opening was in Monkey Junction. It also fits Target’s larger expansion push. In March, the company said it expected to open more than 30 new stores in 2026, including six in May across Arizona, Missouri, New Jersey and North Carolina, and it has said it plans to build more than 300 new stores by 2035. Target’s 2026 plan also includes more than 130 remodels and additional payroll and training investment, the kind of spending that shows up as more training time and operational breathing room before a store hits full stride.

That is what room to grow looks like on the floor: not just a bigger building, but a staged opening that gives a new team time to learn the store, fix weak spots and turn a launch into a steadier workplace.