Many thought it would never happen – but the Newport Avenue Antique Center will finally close on Sunday, April 15th – in anticipation of a Target Express store moving in at some point.
Mall vendors have to be out by the 21st of April. And according to one clerk, “There’s a ton of sales.”
Vendors at the center were initially supposed to vacate at the end of January, but were given a temporary 3-month reprieve and were told they didn’t need to leave until the end of April. The 21st is not that far off.
It’s unknown when the Target store will be set up.
No to Target protest march down Newport Ave., Aug. 30, 2017. Photo credit: Frank Gormlie
It was July 2017 when the OB Rag was the first to report a Target Express was moving in to the Antique Center. And the “No Target in OB” campaign immediately heated up: a Petition against the store moving into OB was begun, and The James Gang even printed “No Target” T-shirts by the end of July.
Fueling opposition to Target is OB’s long history of an anti-corporate attitude. The opposition in the community was clearly demonstrated at the first public gathering on the issue, an early August special forum of the OB Planning Board – most in the audience were against the mega-store coming to OB.
By mid-August the opposition jelled into a formal organization, the No to Target group’s facebook page was set up – and the first protest was held on August 30th, with a large crowd marching down Newport Avenue and rallying in front of the Antique Center.
OB Planning Board forum on Target, August 2017. Those standing and clapping are doing so in opposition to Target. Many of those sitting are Target employees.
Another large crowd opposed to Target was in attendance at the OB Town Council’s forum on the store on August 23rd. By early October, the boycott of Target was officially launched. The OB Rag posted a pictorial gallery of the South Park Target Express to show what OB could expect.
The campaign against Target Express has quieted down recently, perhaps due to the 3-month reprieve given the vendors, or perhaps due to hope based on speculation that Amazon would buy out Target – which didn’t materialize. Or maybe it’s the realization that the corporate behemoth would have its way – despite the community’s expressed opposition. Maybe it’s just a resignation to this reality.
Now that the vendors are actually leaving – we’ll see if the opposition re-emerges and rears its head to save OB’s sanctity.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
that is really sad for newport, lame
Oh, we will re-emerge from No Target in OB to BOYCOTT Target in OB.
Well if Target is coming, hell or high-water, then you may as well make the best of it. Turn the energy of opposition into an opportunity for engagement to hold Target accountable to being a good neighbor in the community: are they donating to local causes, are they helping solve local issues like other business, are they actually meting community needs that they seem to think are under-served?
Worst news ever! Uninvited, unwanted, unfriendly, and underhanded.
Toolpusher, there is NO opportunity for meaningful “engagement” with large corporations, ever, with any of them. The MO is the same every time: they show up at a couple of local meetings, spout commitment to “community needs”, “improvement of local employment”, and “acknowledgement of local ambience” and then they just steamroller in the same old shit they spread everywhere else. Trust me, within a year they’ll be selling alcohol and littering the streets and beaches with their ugly, red-targeted plastic bags.
And believe me, they could care less about a local boycott- they will be there to serve the STVR renters, the dockless bike discarders, and the out of town micro-brewery patrons.
And all based on the “need” b/c the closest Target is about 1 mile away…shame on them, shame on us, yet another black spot on America’s cultural behavior! :(
Judging by your post I’m not sure there’s any meaningful engagement for Target to have with you either
You’re absolutely right, Tyler. I’ve been around too long to cultivate new faith in America’s large corporate business practices. And Obkid’s comment that he’ll see all us “keyboard activists in line at Target” ? Out of the question. I vote with my dollar, and feel the responsibility to set my views in my behavior. That probably sounds self-righteous to you, but that’s ok, I’m used to that sort of name-calling, and will always believe that individual actions can and do, eventually, bring about change. If you are interested in my views on big business, look up Leopold Kohr on wikipedia- he captures it pretty well :-)
Just curious, did they buy the building or are they leasing it?
There is one happy person…the building owner
Could be worse. But I guess we’ll never know because the owner and realtor took the easy way out and didn’t gave that huge space a legitimate chance to be leased by small businesses.
At least Target is capable of offering up some items that aren’t currently available in OB. And please don’t try and tell me I should be buying my underwear at the thrift store or appliances at Rite Aid.
I checked and there is still no alcohol license application for this address. Apparently Target is willing to forego that battle for a later day.
You could be like the rest of the normal people and go to the Target that’s in Sports Arena or any of the other stores there that sell you your precious underwear. Or even order it online and have it shipped to you rather than continue to support brick and mortar box stores which are dying anyway.
Having walkable retail and businesses is part of what makes this community so great.
Strange that you could be against Target moving in but then suggest shopping on Amazon. Would you rather Newport just be a mile long stretch of bars and souvenir shops?
I will see all you keyboard activists in the line at the new Target on Newport. Sad no one is talking about the empty store fronts on Newport.
So true
It’s just a grocery store folks, not the end of the world. No one wanted the antique mall either and now are boo-hooing that it is going away. No one wanted the Starbuck’s, now there are long lines. . . . . .Give it a couple of years. . . . .
Didn’t Target get a lot of heat for having a policy that allows transgender folks to use whichever bathroom they’re feeling at the moment? And they pay higher than minimum wage for new employees, they have a environmental and sustainability policy, and they claim to have an active community engagement and diversity policy.
Target sounds like a social liberal’s wet dream….on paper.
Hey, they’re moving in wheather we want them or not, so why not hold their feet to the fire? Print out their corporate responsibility page and make it a check list. Make Target work for your business.
Yeah, they pay part time people, no benefits, no medical insurance. Sounds like a capitalist’s dream. What’s higher than minimum wage? 10 cents?
Haha, I should SO resist the water chumming here, but:
JDuffy: A grocery store??? Wow, not in my lifetime, but then I wouldn’t know since I don’t consume there- I thought they were supposed to be the modern equivalent of Woolworths…who buys “food” at Target? Ugh.
And Sane voice/triggerfinger: Yeah, I DO get the Amazon comment, b/c I don’t shop there, either. Honestly, if people would do the “online shopping environmental math”, you’d be humbled. Not to mention they are just as big and corporate as Target, the trucks delivering Amazon goods all day every day are becoming a neighborhood nuisance- and don’t even ‘go’ to drone delivery …just sayin’.
And triggerfinger, no one wants you to buy underwear at Goodwill, try a clothing store- remember those? And any appliance Rite-Aid you probably don’t really need. :-)
That’s my point. Nobody in OB sells mens clothes, unless you count hoodies at Wings.
This neighborhood used to be somewhat self-reliant before Newport sold out to the highest bidder.. which is of course the almighty tourist dollar.
Walmart, Target, and Amazon . . . a race to the bottom. Support local merchants.