So the mystery of what makes a Super Target different from a regular Target has been answered. Super Target's got booze.
The new Super Target on Hwy. PD opened its doors Wednesday, so I figured I'd swing by and take a look at it while picking up some school supplies, maybe some fuel for my propane camp stove or a dozen golf balls, some undershirts and a cast iron frying pan. You know, a typical Target run, more or less. But I didn't expect to stumble across the vodka.
I did expect to find a slick new supermarket, which is what the corporate people will likely tell you puts the Super in Super Target. There's a decent produce department, a deli counter, plenty of prepared food in Archer Farms packaging and plenty of red meat. Target being Target, and committed to the textbook definition of branding, there are plenty of steak cuts, some rubs, sauces and impressive-looking steak knives, all in the same area, all carrying Sutton & Dodge logos.
Unlike the regular Target at Mineral Point and Junction Roads on a typical Saturday, the Super Target was stocked to the gills with snacks, socks and spiral notebooks. Much to my son's delight, the action figure aisle was full of brilliantly shining new Transformers. Even better, the teens staffing the electronics section and cash registers are still courteous and eager to help. Certainly by the time school starts, most will be back to their glowering, unapproachable selves, just like their peers who work at other retail establishments.
But that reads as though I'm sour on the Target experience and that's far from the truth. It's the only tolerable big box, as far as I'm concerned.
I'm always coming up with excuses to head to Target and, once there, am always asking questions like, "Do we need anything else?" or "Say, let's just check out the sporting goods section... while we're here." Maybe it goes back to my Minneapolis upbringing in the '70s. Target was a local concern in those days, and not nearly as stylish. There were no Michael Graves tea kettles or Isaac Mizrahi sheet sets, but we still went there for everything from baseball cards to Snap Together models.
Thirty years later, Target is still a siphon on my wallet... especially now that they sell Stoli.
