Write Around Tampa

Target

1040 Dale Mabry Highway

Lutz

Continuing with my exploration of supermarkets as places to write for the month of November, I've chosen Target. This Target is larger than most; we call it the SuperTarget. There’s a nice little Starbucks tucked inside with a few seats, but it’s better than a Starbucks because I can buy snacks or groceries or shampoo or an outfit or electronics—basically anything—before I go.

Quality and pricing of food and drink:

A little more expensive than a free-standing Starbucks or one inside a B&N; a tall peppermint mocha Frappuccino cost me $6.26. But (surprise, surprise) today is red cup day, so I got a free travel cup with my purchase. How fab!

Are there enough outlets?

Not really, but then there’s not enough seats, either. But where I’m sitting has a plug, and there’s at least one more by the corner seats.

How’s the wifi?

Target Guest, click it and you’re in.

Will my muse come out?

Yes. She’ll feel like she’s in a Starbucks if you put her in the seat with her back to all the action. And since no one is really going to a Target to sit in their little Starbucks and write, the two of you will have run of the place.

How long can I park it?

Until 8:00 pm most days (they close earlier than the actual Target store). Just make sure you get drinks or pastries and tip your baristas (even though they’re not allowed to accept tips, I gave mine a dollar and told her we wouldn’t tell anyone).

Final rating: 5 out of 5 laptops

Rachel Remick’s fiction and non-fiction stories have appeared in various magazines, among them Rosebud, Bluestem and ellipsis . . . literature and art. A frequent contributor to women’s magazine Sasee, her writing has also been published in several volumes of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books, the most recent of which is The Spirit of Christmas, on sale now. She lives in Tampa, Florida.