Walk into 600 Broadway and the first thing that hits you is red — but not the fluorescent kind you expect in a big-box aisle. It’s a muted, sculpted corridor that swallows you like the inside of a bullseye. Target’s SoHo location has been reinvented as a fashion-forward concept store, part showroom, part social set-piece, and part retail experiment aimed at reminding shoppers why the brand once led on design.
The makeover was fast: concept to reopening in about four months. It’s also deliberate. With Michael Fiddelke preparing to take the CEO reins and a companywide push to reclaim Target’s “design-led merchandising authority,” the SoHo project is both signal and test — a place to show what the brand wants to be and to learn what might translate to other doors.
What’s different inside
The first floor is the showcase. Center stage is “The Drop,” a circular, rotating installation that swaps themes every four to six weeks. For the holidays it mixes party dresses, cozy loungewear and giftable décor — a deliberate mash-up of wants and needs that Target says defines the brand. Nearby, the “Broadway Beauty Bar” acts like a mini-stage for trending cosmetics and fragrances, with a curated rotation led at launch by celebrity makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes.
There’s also a “Curated By” edit — monthly selections picked by tastemakers, starting with comedian-actress Megan Stalter — and a playful “Gifting Gondola” stacked with seasonal exclusives and Bullseye-themed merch. The store even includes a “Selfie Checkout,” a photo-ready nook that turns the last stop of the trip into a content moment.
Not everything is glossy: the basement still looks like old Target, bright lights and rows of stocked items, some behind anti-theft doors. That contrast is intentional. The SoHo redesign is a phased project; the company says the lower floor will be reworked next year and that future phases will add experiential zones, a cafe and event programming.
Design as a business signal
This isn’t just a creative exercise. Target is trying to reverse several years of stagnant sales and shopworn stores. Executives openly acknowledge missteps: supply glitches, out-of-stocks, messy floors and decisions that left customers and employees frustrated. The SoHo concept is meant to re-anchor Target’s identity around sharp merchandising, while giving the company a visible place in one of the world’s fashion capitals.
“At our best, design is a way of working,” Cara Sylvester, Target’s chief guest experience officer, said at the store preview. The message is twofold: look good, sell better. Analysts and executives have argued that the retailer’s strength has always been the mix of stylish, on-trend product at accessible prices. Now the company is trying to prove it can still do that — and do it consistently.
Target is also channeling capital into that thesis: the company announced plans to boost investment in merchandising, stores and technology next year. That push isn’t just about bricks and mortar. Retailers increasingly rely on richer visual storytelling and discovery tools to compete — areas where emerging AI imagery and in-store content could play a part. Microsoft’s recent work on text-to-image models illustrates how retailers might rapidly prototype visual merchandising assets, while new conversational tools for maps and navigation can make it easier for customers to find and experience a revamped location in person (/news/microsoft-mai-image-1). Meanwhile, conversational navigation copilots are changing how people discover stores and plan visits, an area that dovetails with Target’s New York ambitions (/news/google-maps-gemini-ai-copilot).
A mood board, not a rollout — for now
Target won’t call SoHo a national blueprint. Executives describe it as a mood board: an inspiration engine and a way to test what resonates. Some elements — like the rotating “Drop” or celebrity-curated edits — could inform broader merchandising and marketing. Others are clearly tailored to Manhattan: selfie-ready moments and refined visual details that match SoHo’s fashion-minded foot traffic.
The redesign also underscores a practical point: stores are expensive, but they’re also where lasting brand impressions are made. Target has nearly 2,000 U.S. locations and 42 in New York City alone, and executives argue that showing up well in a place the world watches can have ripple effects.
Expect to see more seasonal swaps and curated activations. Expect some items in SoHo to be unique to the location. And expect Target to keep measuring: are shoppers staying longer? Are impulse buys up? Do the social posts translate into sales? Those answers will determine whether the bullseye becomes a playbook.
If nothing else, the SoHo store is a reminder that retail still has room for theater. Amid inflation and shifting spending habits, Target is trying to reframe a trip to the store as part useful errand, part discovery mission, and part moment to be shared online. It’s a tidy experiment wrapped in Target red — and for a company looking to recapture its style credentials, boldness counts more than beige.