Walking out of the Tenleytown metro station, it’s almost impossible not to notice advertisements with an important announcement. Half advise you to Say Hello to you new Grab and Go. The other half are informative: Tenleytown Target is now Open.
Coming out of the station, it’s easy to see why. Exiting on the west side of the street, the new Target immediately jumps out at you. To enter the store, you don’t even have to step out onto the sidewalk; a prospective shopper only has to get off the escalators and keep walking forward to go in the main entrance of the store.
Inside, it’s exactly what you’d expect. Immediately, the store presents you with a decent selection of apparel. Turning left upon entering, a shopper is presented with toys, games and other niceties, along with a fairly well-stocked tech section. If a shopper turns right upon entering, they are presented with home basics and essentials. Tucked in the back of the store is a well-stocked CVS pharmacy (rivaling the medical supplies of the one across the street) as well as a food section. The store has everything to be expected of a new urban Target.
Although no current GDS students enjoyed the convenience of the Safeway, the Target may replace some of that convenience that was lost when it closed. Certainly, many GDS students have already visited the store, purchasing everything from cards to snacks to blankets.
So can it replace the Safeway? It’s certainly not close enough to replace the between-class immediacy, but it is slightly closer and certainly better stocked than the CVS, previously the most convenient nearby store. GDS students have an extremely mixed bag of opinions: Although some love the new store, some strongly dislike it, and others haven’t made up their minds.
Junior Arthur Delot-Vilain disapproved, and joked, “It’s killing small businesses.” He and sophomore Pierce DeCain both preferred the Best Buy which previously occupied the same lot and offered a different variety of products. DeCain wasn’t even aware of the fact that the Best Buy had closed until he rode his bike down to Tenleytown and found the Target in its place.
The turnover was certainly abrupt: The Best Buy closed its doors on November 3, and only a week later the Target opened. It was so abrupt, in fact, that several students weren’t even aware of its closing. When approached for an interview, senior Alex Moon replied, “There’s a Target in Tenleytown?”
Many other students love the place. Sophomore Nora O’Connor is one such individual. “I love the Target,” she said. “That’s where Jake bought the Cards Against Humanity.”
Another sophomore, Aden Sheingold, prefers it to the nearby CVS: “Target just has a much more wide variety of items that you can purchase there that I think are more useful and of a higher quality.”Regardless of how students feel about it, the Target is here to stay, and students are already taking advantage of its convenient location. It is official: The Tenleytown Target is Now Open.
Adam Leff ’22