A Target store in Odessa is one of 13 stores that the national discount chain plans to close in January, according to an announcement from Target’s corporate headquarters.
The store, at 16400 State Road 54, opened nearly a decade ago. But within two years of its opening, the economy took a steep dive.
Now, despite a renewed boom in development and an improving economy, Target considers the Odessa store and 12 others in the nation to be poor performers.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
“The decision to close a Target store is not made lightly,” said Kristy Welker, a Target spokeswoman who responded to an email inquiry from The Laker/Lutz News. “We typically decide to close a store after careful consideration of the long-term financial performance of a particular location. Typically, the decision to close a store is a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability.”
The 146 employees at the Odessa store will be offered transfers to other Target stores, Welker said.
They were notified of the closure on Nov. 2. The store’s last day will be Jan. 30.
Other Target stores on the closure list include locations in Texas, Arizona, California and Kentucky.
Target Corporation owns the property, which Pasco County appraises at about $6 million. Taxes due for 2015 are about $116,000.
Target representatives didn’t respond to a request regarding future plans for the property.
While Target is closing some stores, 16 stores have recently opened or are slated to open between October 2015 and October 2017, according to a list provided by company representatives.
While two stores are super-sized at about 122,000 square feet and 143,000 square feet, most of the others are smaller than Target’s usual footprint.
The smaller stores range in size from about 16,000 square feet to about 29,000 square feet.
Most are located in California or the Northeast. None on the list are in Florida.
Published November 18, 2015
