Bridgehampton Target set to open in 2026 in space vacated by Kmart, attorney says
A Target store is set to open in fall 2026 in the Bridgehampton space Kmart vacated in October. Credit: Tom Lambui
The Target store taking over a Bridgehampton space Kmart vacated in October is set to open in 2026, an attorney said.
The Bridgehampton Kmart, which was the last full-size Kmart in the mainland United States, closed last year after 25 years in operation, ending an era for a once-dominant discount retailer.
The Target, which will include a CVS drugstore and Starbucks, likely will open in fall 2026 in Bridgehampton, said attorney Brian W. Kennedy, a partner with law firm Forchelli Deegan Terrana LLP in Uniondale that is representing Target in the building-approval process with the Town of Southampton.
The timeline allows for an overhaul of the former Kmart space in the Bridgehampton Commons shopping center, he said.
“It’s a significant upgrade to the interior and exterior of the site,” he said.
Minneapolis-based Target Corp. declined to comment on when the Bridgehampton store will open.
“We’re excited to bring an easy, affordable and convenient shopping experience to new guests in the Bridgehampton community with this new Target store," Target spokeswoman Loni Monroe said in an emailed statement. The retailer will share more details as it gets closer to opening the store, "including how the shopping experience will be tailored to serve local guests and the grand opening date," she said.
Target will occupy a 91,035-square-foot space at 2044 Montauk Hwy. in Bridgehampton.
On July 30, Southampton issued building permits for the interior and exterior work for the Bridgehampton Target, Clare P. Shea, assistant town planning director, said in an email.
Interior work already has started, said Jennifer Maisch, a spokeswoman for Kimco Realty, the Jericho-based real estate investment trust that owns Bridgehampton Commons. Exterior work has not yet begun.
Target's planned upgrades at the Bridgehampton location include reconstructing the loading dock and modifying the front façade, according to plans submitted to the town. The retailer also received a variance from the zoning board of appeals in June to reduce the number of parking spaces in the shopping center to 1,247, from the required 1,253 parking spaces, in order to add more shopping cart corrals at the property.
Target has nearly 2,000 stores, including 20 on Long Island.
Last year, the retailer said it would open 300 stores over 10 years, and it reiterated that plan in June.
Target did not immediately respond to an inquiry Tuesday about whether that plan was still intact, after the company’s financial challenges this year.
Target has had three consecutive quarters of declining sales.
Net sales in the fiscal second quarter, which ended Aug. 2, were $25.2 billion, a 0.9% decline from the same period a year earlier.
A major reason for Target’s sales slide is the backlash over the retailer announcing in January it was pulling back on its diversity programs.
Another factor is the disheveled look and tired inventory in some Target stores, said Joe Feldman, a senior managing director focusing on retail at the Telsey Advisory Group, a Manhattan-based brokerage firm.
“A big driver is the operational issues in running clean, efficient stores. A lot of what they need to fix is retail basics,” Feldman said.
Target’s improvement plan includes a leadership change.
In August, Target announced that chief operating officer Michael Fiddelke will be taking over the CEO reins from Brian Cornell, effective Feb. 1.
The retailer also plans to invest in more technology, such as artificial intelligence, to help complex work get done faster, and it is testing reallocations of labor to have more staff available for customer service in stores, Fiddelke told analysts during an earnings call Aug. 20.
Fulfilling a need
Kmart had been in Bridgehampton Commons for 25 years before it closed in October, leaving the troubled discount retailer with one small store in the United States, in Miami.
While thousands of Kmarts closed over decades, the Bridgehampton store, which was the largest big-box discount store in the Hamptons, was able to hang on for so long because it lacked competition and it fulfilled a need in the community, locals said.
The Hamptons is known for attracting wealthy visitors every summer, but many of the yearlong residents are blue-collar and service industry workers who regularly shopped at Kmart for their household needs.
The closest Walmart to Kmart’s former Bridgehampton store is 24.8 miles away in Riverhead, outside the Hamptons. The closest Target is 23.3 miles away, also in Riverhead.
Kmart’s Bridgehampton store performed well, a Kimco spokesman told Newsday in 2022. But Kimco has declined to say why the store closed.
The Hoffman Estates, Illinois-based parent company of Kmart, Transformco, has not responded to requests for comment in years.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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