Target Coming to Downtown Bethesda

New store planning to open next year

By Andrew Metcalf

The retail behemoth Target announced Thursday it will open a new store in Bethesda next year.

The store will open in a 35,500-square-foot space at the Shops of Wisconsin retail center on Wisconsin Avenue known for the Trader Joe’s store. The retailer plans to open it in March 2017.

A leasing representative for Douglas Development, which owns the shopping center, said the Target store will fill the first floor space surrounding the center’s plaza.

The Shops of Wisconsin. Credit: Andrew Metcalf

The new store will be one of Target’s smaller “flexible-format” stores, which are designed for urban areas. Products carried at the store will include clothing, toys, portable technology, sporting goods, groceries, health and beauty items and a “curated home assortment, with a focus on décor pieces,” according to the company.

The company operates 19 other flexible-format stores in places such as New York City, San Francisco, San Diego and Rosslyn, Virginia.

“Target is focusing on expanding into more urban and densely populated city centers,” Mark Schindele, senior vice president of properties for Target, said in a statement. “The Bethesda store will be Target’s third flexible-format store to open in the greater Washington, D.C., area, so we’re thrilled to add another location to make quick-trip shopping even more convenient for Maryland guests.”

Target has two nearby stores at Westfield Wheaton and on Bou Avenue in Rockville behind the Montrose Crossing Shopping Center.