Bigger Target adds Pizza Hut, Starbucks, pharmacy

Target is the country's second-largest retail store behind the Wal-Mart behemoth, but the Cape Girardeau Target will soon have something to offer that Wal-Mart doesn't -- Pizza Hut and Starbucks.

Construction began recently on the Target expansion that was first reported last July. The work at 202 Siemers Drive will enlarge the store by 11,138 square feet to a total of 107,241 square feet, according to plans on file with the city. The plans show that the expansion will be on the northwest side of the building into a current parking area.

The Starbucks coffee shop will be similar to the one at Barnes & Noble, said Target's human resources manager Debbie Marshall. The Starbucks is expected to open in July and the rest of the work is expected to be finished Oct. 13.

When completed, Target will also include a pharmacy and a Food Avenue Express, which sells things like hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn and sodas, Marshall said. The renovated store will also include smaller "convenience" grocery items like TV dinners, Marshall said.

The plans also call for a new sidewalk near the northwest corner of the building facing the building frontage, new landscape planters, a sidewalk expansion near the entrance and restriping some parking spaces.

Target originally submitted its plans to the city last year because it was requesting a variance -- or exemption -- from city ordinances.

City officials said at the time that Target wanted to put the expansion where 26 current parking spaces are and it would have fewer than the required 1 space for every 200 square feet. The variance was granted by the city's Board of Adjustment. Target was required under ordinance to 537 spaces, but will have 468 after the 26 spots are removed.

The Target expansion does not mean the general merchandise discount store will become a Super Target, Marshall said.

"We're just expanding and adding some new things as part of that expansion," she said.

As of April 6, Target operated 1,418 stores, including 159 SuperTarget stores in 47 states. The company was incorporated in 1902 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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