Apparently, people were excited about the opening of the new SuperTarget in Woodbury.
“I’ve opened two SuperTargets before, and I’ve never had a line out the door at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday,” said Mark Tillett, the store team leader.
The store and Tillett said traffic has been strong and comments from customers have been positive.
“The food side has been extremely busy,” he said, adding that the health and wellness selection, an expanded offering in Woodbury versus most SuperTarget stores, is doing well. “The gluten-free products have really taken off.”
Kristen Winegar, of Lakeland, was shopping at the store Tuesday.
“We’ve been very excited for the new SuperTarget to open,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to get groceries and diapers and everything in one stop.”
Christine Deboer came up from Cottage Grove on Tuesday to check out the new store. Though there is a Target in her home city, she wanted to see what the Woodbury location was like. Her first impressions?
“Oh, it’s great,” she said. “It’s clean.”
Tillett said the grocery section and traditional department-store wares are both seeing plenty of customers and sales so far are “far exceeding expectations.”
Afton resident Michelle Koenig said she “just couldn’t wait for it to open.”
Tuesday was her first time visiting the store.
“I like it a lot,” she said. “I used to live in Minnetonka, and we shopped there all the time, and I moved here and I really missed it.”
Minneapolis-based Target Corp. broke ground on the 180,000-square-foot store over the summer, and the opening was on schedule. As a SuperTarget, the store offers a full grocery, deli and Starbucks.
The new Woodbury Target employs 300-400 people, Tillett said, and developers are in talks to bring in other businesses to the site, off Woodbury Drive near Tamarack Road. Already a bank is being built at the location.
The store is the only new SuperTarget being built in Minnesota this year.
Hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
