Fruits, vegetables and meats will soon join the merchandise like clothing and birthday cards at Target in downtown Ansonia.
Target is doing interior remodeling because the store will be offering some 10,000 square feet of fresh food.
The inclusion of grocery store items is a trend among retail giants such as Target and Wal-Mart. Target spent $500 million in 2010 to alter its stores, according to an article in the New York Times.
The work at the Ansonia Target should be done by October, according to Target spokesman Jamie Bastian.
A large sign on the store at 20 West Main St. says the store is open as the remodel happens.
“The new and enhanced redesign will allow the store to further serve as a one-stop-shop for consumers by now offering the fresh foods that top weekly shopping lists,” Bastian said in an e‑mail response to questions from the Valley Indy.
He said there will be discount prices on the house brand of wine, called Wine Cube.
(Correction: Target says the store will not sell wine.)
There will be bananas, seasonal fruit, berries, baby carrots and bagged lettuce, packaged meat including ground beef, chicken and pork, and pre-packaged baked goods including dinner rolls and pies.
Target stores in Milford and Trumbull are already selling produce.
The new fresh food section is not causing the store to expand its footprint. It in is an interior remodel.
Customers there Thursday were excited about the new line of offerings, which Target spokesman Bastian said would be “low cost.”
“I think it will be good,” said Lisa Poremba of Ansonia, who was packing goods in her trunk with her husband, Mike Poremba. The couple shops there at least twice a month for discount prices on items like paper towels and welcome the added line of products.
“I think it’s a one stop shopping,’ said Mimi Velazquez of Derby, who was there shopping with her son, Eddie.
Nancy Herold of Oxford figured it would be competition for the supermarkets and even some of the smaller stores. She looks forward to shopping there.
“It’s convenient,” she said of the new store layout being built.
Convenience is the whole point of the expansion into produce and meats, said Jesse Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers in New York City.
Low-cost is another factor, he said. But the expansion of retailers into groceries cannot go on forever.
“There are a limited number of these discounters that can also offer groceries,” he said.
In the parking lot, there is a large tent surrounded by a fence. It is not a tent sale. A worker at City Hall said it is where the store fixtures are temporarily being stored until the interior is ready.
At City Hall, the Building Department was not open to show a copy of the floor plan for the store remodeling. The economic development director was not available to talk about whether it would probably mean added tax dollars for the city.
But the amount of tax Target already pays is on file. The store is a good taxpayer — it pays $282,817 a year in taxes, according to the latest statement.
