In a move toward growth, Target has decided to close stores, and a dozen of them at that.

The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune first reported on the news Tuesday afternoon.

"We have a rigorous process in place to evaluate the performance of every store on an annual basis, closing or relocating underperforming locations as needed," a spokeswoman for the big-box retailer told CNBC.

"Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability," she added.

The 12 stores — spread across states including Michigan, Florida, Illinois and Texas — will close on Feb. 3 of next year.

Meantime, Target is in the midst of vastly expanding its portfolio of smaller-format stores, which Chief Executive Brian Cornell has said are more profitable than the retailer's big-box locations. This year, Target will have opened 32 pint-sized stores, with 35 openings planned for 2018.

Minneapolis-based Target is also putting money toward remodeling existing stores. It has plans to update 1,000 of its 1,800 stores by 2020.

The stores being shuttered include those in: Minneapolis' Twin Cities metro area (Hastings); Fergus Falls in outstate Minnesota; Harper Woods, Michigan (Eastland); Hutchinson, Kansas; Benton Harbor, Michigan; Macon, Georgia; Slidell, Louisiana; Lauderhill, Florida; Matteson, Illinois; Romeoville, Illinois; Baltimore (West), and San Antonio (Far East).