A Design For The 2020s - Target #923, Woodhaven, Michigan

This post will look at retail in Woodhaven, Wayne County, MI.

Target #923

23555 Allen Road, Woodhaven, MI

Driving distance and time from downtown Detroit: 21.3 miles, approx. 26 minutes

We return to retail-retail posts on SMR today for a visit to....our third Target to be featured on this blog? You're absolutely right!

Located right at one of suburban Wayne County's busiest intersections, the store opened on October 5, 1994 along with three other Target stores in Michigan, which were stores in Brighton, Chesterfield and Mount Pleasant. As this post focuses on the Woodhaven store, it originally was smaller in size and sported this decor (known variously as P90 or P93) inside. A 2005 expansion gave this store the P04 decor and exterior design while adding a pharmacy, a Starbucks and a Pizza Hut Express. Since then, it has been further remodeled twice: a PFresh remodel around 2012ish (while preserving P04), followed by a full-on remodel in October 2019 to P17 decor, which we've already seen on this blog.

The trade area for this Target store extends north to Riverview, south to Monroe (this and the Toledo, Ohio stores now being the ones to serve Monroe after the Mall of Monroe Target closed in 2015), east to the Detroit River archipelago of Grosse Ile, and west to somewhere west of Maybee.

Target, complete with the infamous lowercase logo it received in the 2019 remodel, enjoys a really dominant presence in the Woodhaven Commons road sign at the Allen Road entrance. An identical sign exists at the West Road entrance. The Woodhaven Commons complex opened in 1977, originally anchored by a superstore Kroger (closed in 2013 and now housing Planet Fitness), and received two extensive renovations, one in 1994 to accommodate the Target store, and another in 2006. Additionally, Woodhaven Commons features many outparcel tenants, including those in further, and smaller, strip buildings.

This singular bullseye, added in the 2005 expansion, is situated on the store's west wall, facing Allen Road.

The entrance facade structure was added on in 2005 and received an update in the 2019 remodel. It's a pretty standard example of P04 exterior designs.

A close-up of the side of the entrance doors.

To our left as we walk into the store is the standard narrow hallway to the restrooms, and next to that is the revamped Guest Service counter, shiny red wall and all.

The clothing department is straight ahead.

A section of the entrance alcove is set aside for cart storage, something Target really only began doing, I believe, around the time P04 came around.

And to the right of the entrance is a two-sectioned Target Cafe which has been in this configuration since the 2005 expansion. The signage for the Cafe is very likely the only interior P04 decor remnant following the 2019 remodel. Although the Starbucks counter was particularly busy when I visited, the Pizza Hut Express counter, from which the signature Target Cafe popcorn is also available, had no customers even though it was open. Perhaps something is being foreshadowed?

Now keep in mind that the Pizza Hut Express alcove exists even though until 2018 one of Woodhaven Commons' outparcels was a dine-in red-roof Pizza Hut (that one has since relocated across Allen Road to one of the new smaller strip developments as a delivery/carryout store) which still sits empty today.

A section for fountain beverages in the Starbucks alcove.

Branching off from the Pizza Hut Express alcove is another narrow hallway, this one leading to the store offices. As this is a 1994-built store, the offices are all located on ground level.

The small fresh food selection typical of PFresh stores is in the typical front-of-the-store location. Of course, the P17 remodel added the wood-grained fixtures and decorations and the gray floor.

A look further into the grocery department.

From the same spot, a look down the front corridor.

This "Help Center" kiosk appears to have been decommissioned, most likely as a result of the current pandemic, and definitely not due to looting damage as Metro Detroit as a whole did not see any looting incidents during the recent protests.

And, of course, the CVS Pharmacy counter, which was added in the 2005 expansion as a Target Pharmacy.

A close-up of the CVS Pharmacy counter.

Here's a look back towards the grocery section from near the Personal Care department.

The Personal Care department saw these modern circular light fixtures added as part of the 2019 remodel.

A glimpse down the main vertical central actionway, connecting the front of the store with toys and electronics (aka Tech since the 2019 remodel).

The girl's clothing section.

The front registers, which at this store consist of 8 regular lanes and 3 self-checkout lanes.

A closer look at the self-checkout registers.

We wrap up this post with one last look at the entrance doors.

And we conclude a look at Downriver's other P17 Target (as of the writing of this blog post, of course). Once again, even though other P17 stores have fancier appearances, this is as fancy as we'll get here on SMR.

Until next time when we check out more modern and not-so-modern retail....