Email to a Friend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Target Opens: Gentrification or Great Design?

March 5, 2008 by Mike A.

Mayor Fenty snuck into Target on Tuesday to make the first official purchase at the Columbia Heights location. Although the store isn’t scheduled to officially open until Sunday, it will open its doors for a soft-launch beginning today. The initiation of the first Target store in the District (14th and Park Roads, NW) has been accompanied by both praise and prophecies of gentrification. So, where are we?

A few months ago I sat down with a local designer over coffee to discuss a potential story. I was able to navigate most of the conversation by employing a few truths that I knew about design – a) that Washington is a town where great modern architects come to create mediocre buildings, b) that the District has quietly cradled the fashion careers of icons like Tim Gunn and c) that Chuck Brown maintains a bad enough ass to dress how ever he wants.

My conversation soured once I mentioned Target.

To the designer, Target represented all the failings of big-box retailers like Walmart. I’ve worked in rural areas and have experienced the devastating impact operations like Walmart create in driving out local merchants while changing the culture of local communities. Target, to him, also represented the bulk sale of crap. These fears have fed much of the opposition among my friends to the new Target in Columbia Heights.

I welcome Target. Its unlikely that the retail chain itself will drive out Columbia Heights’ puperserias and hipster haunts (of which the premiere haunt, Wonderland, was established after hipsters gentrified out the Black gay bar Nob Hill). Gentrification in Columbia Heights was never anchored on the success of the “DC USA” retail complex which houses Target. Thanks to Columbia Heights’ high density of rent control and the implosion of the condo market, Target becomes an afterthought in a surprisingly stabilized neighborhood.

By moving into Columbia Heights, Target isn’t displacing local businesses. Like many urban centers, both Columbia Heights and nearby Adams Morgan are under-served by retail outlets. There are no nearby mom-and-pop stores selling hypoallergenic duvet spreads, low-cost dorm furniture or Isaac Mizrahi party dresses. Indeed, the most likely outlets to suffer from the opening of Target are other big-box chains such as Linens & Things, Ikea and H&M.

Which brings me back to my conversation with a local designer where he expressed his disgust for Tar-zhjay.

I believe that good design becomes great when it is democratic. Target has done a terrific job of elevating middle America’s sense of style (”You do not have to wear skorts! Here, stop and try these David Bowie-inspired cigarette pants instead while you shop for your tub of detergent,”).

Target isn’t alone. When my local vegan bakery Sticky Fingers moved to Columbia Heights (across from the new Target) it also shifted beyond its niche-market of vegans and vegetarians. Molding itself to the neighborhood, the coffee shop successfully used an open layout and bright design to establish itself as a third-space among a mostly non-vegetarian clientele (it had previously occupied a basement storefront at its old location) – introducing an entirely new demographic to vegan eating.

I once interviewed a gaming industry official from Las Vegas and asked if the industry there had been negatively impacted by an increase in Indian casino gambling centers across the country. Did those casinos undercut business that would otherwise go to the Strip? “Oh, not at all” was her reply. “Those casinos are cheaper to get to and more accessible to consumers. But, we’ve found that once someone visits those smaller casinos, they actually increase their interest in coming to Las Vegas instead of supplanting it.”

Just like “shopping” at those entry-level casinos initiates interest in the real thing, Target increases interest in good design by making its entry-point accessible. By opening design concepts to a larger audience, Target actually introduces a purchasing pattern which increases interest in higher-priced products sold by local merchants. When it comes time to upgrade a table lamp or shower set, Target consumers are more likely to turn to a local outlet for a “step-up” purchase.

At a New Year’s dinner party in a friend’s minimalist East London flat, I watched guests gush over his Philippe Starck acrylic chairs (and at $800 a pop, he deserved to have people gush). But, I am able to get the same reaction each time a friend marvels at the sleek design of my modern firewood stand. “Oh, the Starck?” I reply. “Its a 2002, hammered-finish midpoint periodical construct from his first American line (translation: I bought it as a magazine rack at Target for $12.99…but a Starck is a Starck).”

I’m open to other views. Target may create parking pains along 14th Street, but like most hipsters in DC I don’t drive. Prior to today’s opening, visiting the nearest Target in Alexandria required a Zipcar and favorable traffic. I was going to shop at Target anyway. Now, I can do it by jumping on the Metro.

Okay, one good reason not to shop at Target: Britney Spears

Email to a Friend

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•