Goleta’s Target set for Oct. 20 opening
Are you ready for Round 2 of Targetmania?!
Only months removed from the Target Galleria opening on State Street, the full-sized Target on Hollister Avenue in Goleta is set to open on Oct. 20, according to Kelli Nassif, the store’s team leader.
Taking up residence in what used to be Kmart, Target’s construction has picked up over recent weeks, with Ms. Nassif looking to begin shelving and stocking in early September.
“These past couple of weeks have been like night and day. We have walls and things are really coming together,” Ms. Nassif said.
Things are going so well that store management is hosting a mass hiring event this weekend, Aug. 15-17, at the Hilton Garden Inn directly across the street from the new Target. Store representatives will be available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with both scheduled and walk-in interviews welcomed.
Ms. Nassif is looking to add 300 employees, with hours ranging from 20 to 38 per week. Not all 300 will be added this weekend, as Ms. Nassif will hold further and smaller hiring events once UCSB students return to school in mid-September.
“We don’t just want UCSB students, we want to reach out into the community and get as many (employees) as possible,” Ms. Nassif said.
Ms. Nassif has even reached out to local high schools, looking to see whether students would like to make Target their first job. The minimum age for a role with the store is 16.
While the store will miss the bulk of back-to-school sales, Ms. Nassif admitted that a big part of the store’s success moving forward will be as a major back-to-college outlet for students and parents alike.
Ms. Nassif remembers shopping at Kmart when she attended UCSB a little more than a decade ago, always hoping for an outlet such as Target.
“This has been 20 years in the making. I was talking to a colleague, and they were scouting out properties (for Target) more than 20 years ago,” said Ms. Nassif, who has been with Target since 2011.
While the Target Galleria in Santa Barbara serves a specific demographic — a company goal to serve niche audiences — the Goleta Target will be more focused on being a huge commodity store, the solution for everything from toiletries to electronics.
Ms. Nassif reflected on why Target has the ability to open stores while many other retailers are scaling back, including closing stores.
“With the shift of the way the retail environment works, especially online, you have to find ways to stay relevant and in business,” Ms. Nassif said. “Target has found products that you can’t get anywhere else. Our guests want to be able to talk about their beauty products, or guided to the right smart TV. We have adapted to that.”
