Sunday shoppers are invited to visit the new Target store, which
is large enough to park a commercial passenger airliner inside, as
it offers special promotions for its grand opening.
Morgan Hill – Sunday shoppers are invited to visit the new Target store, which is large enough to park a commercial passenger airliner inside, as it offers special promotions for its grand opening.
The new Target, which had a soft opening Wednesday, is located in the new shopping center on Cochrane Road on the east side of U.S. 101.
At 125,000 square feet, the store is approximately 50 percent larger than the “old” Target that used to located at the Cochrane Plaza shopping center, according to Garrett Toy, director of building and housing services for the city.
Replacing the old store, which closed its doors to the public Wednesday at 3pm, the expanded store will offer customers a wider selection of clothing, household goods and food items, including frozen food and dry goods but no fresh produce.
A pharmacy and photo center, a Starbucks and Pizza Hut, are just a few of the features the new store offers, according to Ana Williams, Target spokesperson.
Williams said the company does not release information such as how much the new store cost to build, and she could not provide an exact number of employees for the store, though she did say that Target stores of that size are staffed with between 150 and 250 team members.
She did confirm that the more than 100 members of the old Target were given the first option at jobs in the new store.
Toy said other businesses that will occupy the new shopping center will open later this fall. The list includes Petco, Staples, Circuit City, Chili’s restaurant, Red Robin restaurant, Sleeptrain, DSW (shoes), Ono Hawaiian BBQ restaurant, Jamba Juice, Starbucks, GNC, Radio Shack, Men’s WearHouse and Payless Shoes.
Also negotiating to come to the new center are Gamestop, Queen Bee Nails, Sports Clips, Coyote Real Estate, Dream Dinners, Majestic Beauty Supply, Quiznos, Site for Sore Eyes, Verizon Wireless and Fresh Cleaners, Toy said. All of these tenants will be located in the smaller pads and buildings around the site.
“While most of these tenants have signed leases, some are still in lease negotiations,” Toy said. “For those businesses that may exist in other locations in town such as Payless and GNC, they may be relocating existing stores. For others such as Jamba Juice, it will be a new store.”
John DiNapoli, vice president of JP DiNapoli Companies, Inc., a developer of the project, said the name of the shopping center, which some are calling Cochrane Commons, is not official.
“We’re still working with other ideas,” he said Thursday. “We are open to better names … If someone has a good idea, we will get a very nice gift certificate for them.”
The center is opening in phases, DiNapoli said.
“We haven’t started the leasing of phase two, we’re looking for another major (store),” he said. “There’s been good interest in the second phase, but I can’t release yet the names of those we’re negotiating with.”
DiNapoli said he’s excited about the prospects for the complex.
“It’s certainly going to be different from Gilroy, I think that’s what people are looking for,” he added. “Everybody’ll be happy. It’s great working in Morgan Hill. It’s taking a long time, but it’ll pay off. After it’s completed, the community will be really happy with it.”
Praising the Target company, DiNapoli said that though there was already a store in Morgan Hill, the company “wanted a new store to better serve the community.”
TARGET SUPERSTORE
- 1061 Cochrane Road
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125,000 square feet
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50 percent larger than old store
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Up to 250 employees
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Pharmacy and photo shop in new store
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Discounts and special promotions
during grand opening.
