Goleta Target Store Confirmed

Target confirmed today that plans are afoot for a new store in Goleta at the Kmart location across Storke Road from the Calle Real Marketplace. This is the second announcement of a store in the area this year; the first was in January for Santa Barbara’s Galleria. Goleta’s 132,000-square-foot building will have 117,000 square feet of selling space. More than 200 people will be employed at the store.

Target announced in March that its sales team salaries rose to a $12 minimum wage this year and will rise to $15 an hour by 2020 for its current 350,000 sales employees. The Goleta store is said to be part of the company’s “next generation” design, which nationwide includes elements like self checkout, a nursing room, and order pickup, which the company asserts can have 95 percent of items ready in less than an hour. Target’s next-generation designs also include a drive-up area; drive-throughs have been controversial in Goleta, with a McDonald’s request for one across the street turned down in an appeal to the City Council in 2014. The store design is still in the preliminary phase, said Target spokesperson Jacqueline DuBuse, and adding a drive-up hasn’t yet been decided.

The new store for Goleta is expected to open in 2019. The timing on opening Santa Barbara’s store, originally set for October 2018, has shifted to 2019 while Target takes “all the necessary steps to ensure each store is the right fit for the neighborhood,” said DuBuse.