A new Target is opening this week on Flatbush Avenue, and it’s shining a ray of hope on the shopping prospects in the neighborhood.
At 190,000 square feet, the downtown Brooklyn bargain mecca – pronounced “Tar-jay” by N.Y. hipsters – will feature wireless registers, a separate “cart lifter” and tons of stylish clothes by designers like Isaac Mizrahi, Mossimo and Liz Lange.
The best part? It’s only a 20-minute subway ride from Manhattan.
“It is the first and only true metropolitan Target store,” says John Remington, Target vice president of events marketing and communications.
“It is the only store that has no parking available, preferring instead to maximize its position, sitting directly above the Atlantic Avenue subway hub that has eight subway lines running into it as well as the Long Island Rail Road.”
There are 10 other Target stores in the New York area, but the Brooklyn store, which opens Wednesday, is the only two-level Target on the East Coast.
It is also one of the first completed installations inside the new Atlantic Terminal Mall.
Inside, customers can roll their red carts around the first level, which carries women’s clothing, intimate apparel, sleepwear, shoes, cosmetics and jewelry. A Liz Lange collar shirt costs $19.99, a pair of Isaac “Kelly” leather loafers are $26.99 and Mossimo jeans are $24.99.
Shoppers can put their cart in the “cart lifter” and take the escalator to the second level, which has men’s and children’s clothing, electronics, toys, furniture and home appliances.
Items there include a Swell accent rug ($14.99), Shabby Chic blankets ($79.99), an Eddie Bauer portable DVD player ($299.99) and Wrangler jeans ($14.99).
Bargain hunters were anxiously awaiting the store’s opening.
“Target is one of the better-quality stores,” says Angela Hugee, a social worker who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant. “Maybe now they could close all those cheap-quality clothing stores down on Fulton Street.”
Patrick Ehlen, 35, a graduate student who lives two blocks away, needs “a whole bunch of stuff from Target.”
“I’ve been going to Target since I was a kid in Denver,” he says. “I love Target. I used to get all kinds of clothes, tools and toys there, so I’m a little bit excited.”
The new store also has created 1,000 new jobs for Brooklynites.
On Tuesday night, there will be a VIG night (“Very Important Guests”) with performances by Sandra Bernhard, DJ Paul Sevigny, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the band Dopo Yumé and the bull’s-eye dog.
The store will be open Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.