TARGET CLOSES SATURDAY

Posted: 5:27 p.m. Monday, April 28, 2014

Middletown Target store closes Saturday

By Chelsey Levingston and Rick McCrabb

Staff Writer

This is the last week of operations for Target’s Middletown store on Roosevelt Parkway, which is closing after nearly 20 years in business.

In January, Target announced it was closing eight stores across the country, including locations in Middletown and Trotwood.

“Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability,” officials with the retailer said in a statement.

Middletown customers this week will see a sign on the door saying the Target is closing permanently at 10 p.m. Saturday. The pharmacy is already closed and a sign tells customers their prescriptions have been transferred to CVS, at 3445 Union Road.

Several shoppers at Target Monday afternoon said they were surprised and disappointed the Middletown location was closing Saturday night. They said since Target is located between Kohl’s and Lowe’s, it’s convenient and they can shop at all three stores without moving their cars.

Several of them said they’d either shop at the Target locations at Bridgewater Falls in Fairfield Twp., the Dayton Mall, or at Meijer or Walmart in Middletown.

Ironically, Curtis Jenkins, of Trotwood, said he was returning an item at the Middletown Target that he purchased at the Target in Trotwood, the other Ohio location to close. Jenkins said he was driving home from Cincinnati when he saw there was a Target in Middletown.

He shops at Target in Trotwood because it’s only a few miles from his home.

“It’s all about convenience,” he said.

He called Target “a vital part of the community.”

Residents in Middletown and Trotwood who were upset over the closings tried several tactics to get corporate officials to reconsider closing their community Target stores. In Middletown, residents signed an on-line petition that grew to more than 1,000 responses, and in Trotwood, city officials met with Target representatives in the company’s headquarters in Minneapolis. But neither effort was successful and both stores are set to close Saturday.

Jennifer Gay, of Trenton, called Target her “favorite store” ever since she worked at the location on University Boulevard.

She looked around the parking lot that was filled with about 30 cars and said she had “no idea” why the Middletown store was targeted to close.

Terry McClure, of Trenton, works for the postal service and believes more and more people are shopping online. She said the number of packages handled by the postal service makes “every day feel like Christmas.”

Todd Miller, of Middletown, said he prefers Target over other larger retailers because of customer service. He also enjoys purchasing gift cards there for his children when they go to friends’ birthday parties. He didn’t agree with closing the Middletown location.

“I’m not happy about it at all,” he said.

Another customer, Stephanie Beel, of Middletown, said she was “upset” about the closing.

About 80 employees of Middletown Target are affected by the closing. Eligible employees have been offered the same or similar position at a nearby location, said Target spokesman Evan Lapiska in an email. Those who decide not to transfer to another store are offered a separation package based on years of service, Lapiska said.

Target owns each of the closing store properties and “will be actively marketing the property for sale,” Lapiska said.

There are no inventory liquidation sales in Middletown as goods will be transferred to other nearby stores to sell, he said.