LOS ANGELES —
It was a true Hollywood premiere: red carpets, white
wine, celebrities Hilary Duff and Charlie Sheen —
and a dog with his own makeup artist.
Except
this was the debut of the new Target prototype at the
corner of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea in West Hollywood.
The store opened Wednesday (although there’s an
official grand opening Sunday), but Tuesday night’s
party gave invited guests the opportunity to mingle, nosh
and shop the fully stocked shelves to their heart’s
content, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the
American Film Institute.
“All
our stores built from here forward will be about this
size,” said Target district manager John Favilla,
who pegged it at roughly 125,000 square feet. The location
is expected to bring in “above-average” sales,
according to sources — Target stores pulled in roughly
$270 a square foot last year and the new store could generate
almost $34 million.
“We’ve
expanded the marketplace section and added a lot of food
and dairy and dry goods.”
He
also pointed out “completely different signage”
and a subtly tweaked color scheme. “It’s still
red and white,” he said, “but just a little
different red.”
Just
don’t expect this Target to add a VIP room or a
private cash register to cater to celebs who might drop
by en route to surrounding studio lots. “Nope, you’ll
just find the same things in this Target as in Targets
across the country,” said regional vice president
Carmen Moch.
That
said, Tuesday night’s fete had comedienne Sandra
Bernhard as master of ceremonies, tween star Hilary Duff
near the checkout and a pop-in by Charlie Sheen, who apparently
made a few purchases earlier in the evening. Brittany
Snow, star of NBC’s “American Dreams,”
was in full domestic mode with a shopping cart full of
life’s little necessities — Glad trash bags,
Charmin bathroom tissue and a handful of DVDs for her
boyfriend.
A
Target shopper since her days in Florida, when she says
she spent lots of money on makeup, purses and jewelry,
Snow believes the new location will be a hit with the
Hollywood crowd. “I think this Target doesn’t
even know what it’s in for,” she said.
As
the evening wore on and holes began to appear on once-fully
stocked shelves and racks, what’s hot became clear:
women’s flip-flops (sizes 7 and 9, in solid yellow,
pink and basic black) and Isaac Mizrahi white-on-gray
seersucker blazers (a full rack at 7 p.m. was half empty
by 7:30).
But
the big hit of the night was clearly Buddy the dog, the
white bull terrier with the red bull’s-eye who’s
been a familiar face in the store’s advertising.
As “animal colorist” Rose Ordile touched up
the red concentric circles that form his signature bull’s-eye,
owner David McMillan of Worldwide Movie Animals boasted
of his “client’s” popularity: “People
must’ve taken 200 pictures of him tonight.”
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