Compared to Target's new architectural design, the Greatland stores look pretty dated
Stores come and go, such is life. You come to expect closings from nail salons, dollar stores, or lately, your neighborhood Starbucks. When that store is Target, it’s quite a surprise.
The Maple Grove Target Greatland opened in 1998 and only nine years later, shut down. If you leave it at that, it’s pretty odd. Target closing up its only store in a flourishing suburb? What’s going on here? Is this some sort of experiment by the government?
Conspiracy theorists, put away your tinfoil hats; the explanation is simple. Target wanted to compete with the nearby Wal-Mart Super Center and couldn’t do that in its current spot. Much like a growing hermit crab in search of a new shell, Target did not have enough room in the building to grow into a SuperTarget. The Greatland closed in October 2007 to move eastward into a more size-appropriate structure. Also helping coax Target into relocation was a nearby retail development called “The Grove”, a new hospital, and a Home Deport — all promising high retail traffic by an idealistic developer.
According to an article dated December 2007, the old Target store was supposed to be redeveloped into several smaller retail spaces but these plans never materialized and the building still stands empty today. What will become of this I-94 eyesore? My anticipation is growing by the day.
If you’re not familiar with this area, Target Greatland Maple Grove did not have a bad location. With a Rainbow Foods next door, a Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club/Menards across the street, and an adjacent strip mall, there’s a considerable amount of traffic in this area. While it might be a bit out of the way from the bustling Arbor Lakes area, this seems like a great location. Maple Grove isn’t all about Arbor Lakes, you know 
. Isn’t it all about location, location, location?
When the Maple Grove store opened in 1998, Target had no plans on putting SuperTargets in Minnesota. Target was hell-bent to continue opening regular stores and Greatlands in the late ’90s/early ’00s, which resulted in a lot of remodeling projects later this decade. In the ’90s, the concept of a SuperTarget was puzzling to most Minnesotans. A store where you could buy baby wipes, Nair, Honors sweatpants, Mossimo flip flops, ground beef, a bag of apples, and a jug of orange juice— all in the same trip? Blasphemy!
In 1997, some of my geeky Target friends and I took a ROAD TRIP to Des Moines, Iowa for the sole purpose of going to Super Target. We took pictures, toured the store, and shook hands with the manager — it wasn’t even a work-sanctioned trip! We just wanted the chance to buy sunglasses, mascara, and grapes and have it all on the same receipt. Yes, I was that much of a nerd. A Super Target as a tourist attraction is laughable now (fuck, I shop there 3+ times/week now), but back then, Target-as-a-Grocery-Store concept was full of mystique and wonder. To me, anyway. Why am I admitting this? Fuck.
The hustle & bustle of the area
What’s so great about a Greatland? Well, not much. The Greatland stores were larger than your traditional Targets and carried a bigger selection of goods. That’s pretty much it. They did not carry a full line of groceries. They did sell a good amount of junk food, a sparse selection of canned goods, boxed dinner mixes, and cereal. You know, the kind of hoard-able food with a long shelf-life you could keep on-hand in case of Armageddon, like some screwball cat lady.
As I’ve mentioned before, Target no longer opens new stores under the “Greatland” name — it’s either a SuperTarget or a regular Target. With the uptrend in opening new (or remodoling old stores into) SuperTargets and stocking regular stores with more grocery goods, Greatlands are no longer relevand and have gone the way of the pager, WebRings, and Limp Bizkit, although there are still Target Greatland stores out there.
Today, the Maple Grove SuperTarget is up and running in its new location, right next door to a closed Slumberland store. No surpise there. Home Depot and Office Max are also in this area and both sport empty parking lots, even during prime shopping hours.
Just what Maple Grove needs...MORE STORES
The Grove looks like a ghost town — over 75% of the store fronts are empty. The stores that are there aren’t anything to write home about — Great Clips, Chipotle, and a Subway. So much for all that high traffic, huh? The whole area is kind of spooky. It’s neatly landscaped, lots of park benches, hanging geranium baskets, dancing fountains, pewter statues of kids playing leapfrog…but there’s no one around to enjoy any of it. If it weren’t for the gurgling fountains and the occasional giggle from customers eating burritos at Chipotle’s outdoor patio, the area would be completely silent.
One of my readers had this to say regarding this entire area in the comments of the Coon Rapids abandoned Target store post:
The new digs
“Target in MG closed west of 94 because Ryan(the developer) promised them prime site and new Arbor Lakes storefronts along with a hospital to get them to move east of 94. It will be a big deal and good location once the hospital gets going in Dec 2009. However, the economy has changed the face of real estate (especially retail) for the next five to seven years — it takes that long to plan, permit develop and build-out centers… Big box Slumberland has already opened and closed at “The Grove”. The ghostly empty storefronts are just an indication of too many retail stores and an exhausted consumer.”
Thank you, Mike!
Will anything become of The Grove or was this just a pie-in-the-sky daydream by a starry-eyed developer? If anything, I suppose we can expect a bunch of smoke shops, perfumeries, a cheap buffet restaurant, and a DEB to move in soon.
Photos taken June 2009
