Target is Coming to La Canada

Kendyl Young

7 years ago

Customers shop the produce section in a recently-opened small format Target store in Irvine, similar to the store that will go into space formerly occupied by the La Cañada Sport Chalet (File Photo- originally posted on Valley Sun)

The La Canada Valley Sun reported that Target is moving into the oldSport Chalet space in the Town Center and the interwebs is blowing up.

A community-sized Target store will occupy the retail space in La Cañada’s Town Center left vacant last year, when locally founded sporting goods retailer Sport Chalet closed up shop after 57 years of business, officials confirmed Wednesday.
Pat Anderson, president and chief executive of the La Cañada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce confirmed she received an email from Rob Fuelling, senior vice president of property owner IDS Real Estate Group, indicating the new tenant.
Unlike big-box Super Target stores, this location will have a smaller footprint and will stock an inventory that caters more to the needs of residents in the surrounding area, according to Anderson.
“It will be tailor-made for us,” she said, explaining how the company uses market research consultants to extrapolate data clarifying the shopping trends within a particular local community.

This is a trend among large retailers such as Walmart and Kmart. This done partially to counteract the negative press of the “category killer” retailers and partially to expand into areas that would not sustain a mega store. In this case, the Sport Chalet space does, indeed, seem tailor made for Target.

La Cañada Mayor Mike Davitt said Wednesday city officials were excited about the new addition, which they believe will add value to the Town Center plaza.
“Filling the vacant space with a tenant such as Target, and introducing their new smaller store format, is a great sign for our community,” he said in an email interview. “We look forward to working with both IDS and Target in creating a good corporate partnership with our city.”

The comments on the interwebs, tonight, are not universally positive. Some express fears that loved local business, like The Flintridge Book Store, might be threatened while others see the additional sales tax revenue and a net positive.

The most common fear expressed is the lack of parking. Parking will certainly be tight and some expressed a fear that local restaurants might suffer.

Anderson, who announced in the Aug. 9 luncheon meeting of the Noon Kiwanis Club of La Cañada that escrow on the 45,000-square-foot building had officially closed, said she was glad for the many potential benefits a Target location would bring to the city and its local businesses.

This means that Target bought the building, they did not lease it. The city will take up residence in the former Sport Chalet offices.

“Other businesses in the area will reap the benefits of additional folks coming into the Town Center,” she said. “It’s also going to be good for jobs, because they’re going to be employing a lot of people.”

There is a lot of data to support this claim. The Journalist Resource published an article citing many academic studies about the spill over effect of large scale retailers.

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