Kips Bay Target Opening Delayed Pending 'Final Approvals'

KIPS BAY, NY — Target's latest New York City location in Kips Bay has been delayed, the company confirmed.

Target was expected to open its fifth store in Manhattan in the Kips Bay neighborhood at 512 Second Ave. between 28th and 29th Sts. earlier this month. But when customers showed up to shop, employees were turned away.

One Twitter user tweeted photographs of a fully lit store stocked with perishable foods on Sunday.

"A whole week later and still not open," @caseyirene_ wrote. "The store has been fully lit and stocked with (perishable!) food the entire time. What is going on??"

Casey Wright and her roommate had been anticipating the opening since signs went up in the storefront, she told Patch by email. They live a block from the new location, and Wright often treks to the Flatiron District or Herald Square for items she hopes to shop for at the future Target.

The two "have been both disappointed and confused by the delay," she said.

"In my opinion, if you give a specific date that you're going to open, you should be 100% sure that you can make that happen otherwise you're going to lose credibility with the community before you've even started," said Wright, a non-profit marketing manager who has lived in Kips Bay since 2015. "Regardless of the cause, it's not a good look for them."

A spokeswoman for Target, Jacqueline DeBuse, said the company is waiting for "final approvals" to open up its new digs.

"We're doing what we can to move as quickly as possible," DeBuse said. "Our team is ready. The store is ready. We're really excited. We just want to make sure we're taking the time to put our best foot forward."

DeBuse declined to explain what approvals were pending as well as if the approvals involved the city or state or private partners in the city.

Tuesday afternoon, a Target employee was turning away people explaining the store was still waiting on approvals.

"What is going on with the Kips Bay store? Grand opening was schedule [sic] for April 7th and never happened!" tweeted @therealjoshbach. "Now the store says they don't have an opening date, meanwhile the produce is going bad...What's the delay? Any info?"

@mechykill wrote on the previously planned opening day, "why does it say on your storefront’s signs and online that your nyc kips bay store opens today meanwhile I went all the way to the store and they have employees outside turning people away? So messed up."

No open date has been set — but DeBuse said the store expects to open "very soon."

The 21,000-square-foot shop is the fifth "small-format" store in Manhattan — a smaller version of its typical sprawling suburban locations. Some 80 employees will work at the store.

The Kips Bay location has already made headlines ahead of its opening. Just last month, a man was charged with attempted murder after shooting a retired cop who was working as a security guard at the Target.

The site is the store's 78th in the greater New York area.

Target opened an East Village location last summer at the base of a new luxury apartment building — irking longtime neighbors for putting up a fake awning on its grand opening day with the letters "TRGT" that appeared similar to the former punk music club CBGB's logo. The company later apologized.

Later that summer, the company opened a Lower East Side location within the new Essex Crossing development.

An Upper West Side location is also expected to open this year.