Hundreds line up in the cold for opening of the Outer Banks Target
The long-awaited Outer Banks Target opened Sunday morning with balloons, a ribbon-cutting and at least 500 shoppers lined up outside, some before dawn.
Armed with bright red shopping carts and dressed in layers against the chilly wind, they filed in by the dozen after a quick ribbon-cutting with the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re so excited to bring Target and our vision of bringing joy here to the Outer Banks,” store director R.J. Cunningham told the crowd. “Have a great opening day!”
Target occupies the same space in Kill Devil Hills that housed North Carolina’s last Kmart, which closed in 2019. The retailer purchased the run-down building at 1901 N. Croatan Highway in February 2021, with a targeted opening last year. But “external delays” slowed construction, Target officials said at the time.
The original design called for a smaller, neighborhood store with 80,000 square feet of retail space, but the new store covers 120,000 square feet, larger than most Targets, Cunningham said.
Hiring has been a challenge, he said, but by opening day, the store had hired 100 employees, with plans to bring more on board as the summer season gets underway. The store’s hours for now are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., seven days a week.
“There is no surprise that trying to hire and staff any business has been very challenging across the spectrum,” Cunningham said. “But we are ready to go, ready to open our doors.”
The exterior of the store features a nod to the Outer Banks with siding on either side of the doors made from reclaimed local driftwood.
Inside, there’s a CVS Pharmacy, a dedicated space for order pickup and an Ulta Beauty section. A Starbucks is opening in May.
Brittney Goodson, a sales associate in the Ulta section, said it was exciting to finally see customers filling the store.
“We’ve been working toward this since the end of February,” she said.
Target is one of only two big-box stores on the Outer Banks, sharing the market with the Kitty Hawk Walmart, which opened in 1993. The Kmart closed after a 30-year run, among the last across the country — and the last in North Carolina — to get the ax.
Target originally planned to tear down the aging Kmart building, but later said it would remodel the existing space, which sits on a 14-acre plot of land owned by the Wright Company Inc. of Virginia Beach. Norfolk real estate mogul Joan Dalis, who died in 2019, was president of the Wright Co. Inc., owner of the Kmart property fronting U.S. 158, the main thoroughfare on the Outer Banks. Her brother is now the property owner.
The new Target is one of several new big-name retailers opening up shop on the Outer Banks. On March 30, a Marshalls store opened in Kitty Hawk. In Kill Devil Hills near the new Target, clearing is underway on a Wawa store and gas station, slated to open next year.
Kari Pugh, kari.pugh@virginiamedia.com
