Photos: Cleveland Park Target

by Marlene Berlin

I am not a shopper. I have never even been to the Target in Columbia Heights. But I am curious by nature, and that curiosity once took me to a far-flung Wegmans store so I could see what the one going in at the former Fannie Mae headquarters might offer us. So I thought I would check out the Target store that opened in Cleveland Park at the beginning of April.

It is located where Petco used to be, at Sam’s Park & Shop (3505 Connecticut Avenue). The Cleveland Park Target is one of two “urban format” stores that opened in DC recently, meaning it’s much smaller than a suburban big box store at 25,000 square feet. (The Tenleytown Target, opening in the former Best Buy next year, is to be 46,000 square feet.)

Most shoppers enter the store using an escalator.

At the bottom there is a grocery section similar to that at Streets Market just a block south.

The grocery section has fresh fruits and vegetables and prepared items.

When I turned to my left I saw the greeting cards and cosmetics and thought of CVS. The rest – clothes, kitchen and housewares, toys – were bits and pieces of TJ Maxx, Ace Hardware, Best Buy, and Sullivan’s. The most exciting to me was the tiny sporting goods section, which included bicycle helmets and yoga mats.

I was particularly interested in the free weights. You can’t find them in any of our closest commercial areas – Van Ness, Tenleytown and Chevy Chase – and I needed some ten-pound weights.

And with City Paws veterinary clinic next door, the Target should also do a good business in pet food and supplies.

Lunch and between 3 and 7 p.m. are the store’s busiest times. I was there around 9:30 a.m., and I saw two or three other customers. The Cleveland Park Target is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.