Rows of carts await customers at a Target store in Chicago in 2012. M. Spencer Green/AP

Target's smallest store ever will open this month near the University of Minnesota.

At 20,000 square feet, the TargetExpress store will be about a sixth of the size of a typical Target store. The relatively tiny Target, on southeast 5th Street, is scheduled to open July 23.

The retailer says the new store will help the company gain new insights about when, where and how customers want to be served.

As retail competition has stiffened, Target has been opening smaller stores in urban settings. The retailer has opened eight somewhat downsized CityTarget stores in Chicago, Los Angeles and other markets.

Walmart has several hundred neighborhood stores of less than 40,000 square feet.