After much anticipation, Target opens at Fancher Creek in Fresno. It’s a big one
Target has opened its new store at Fancher Creek in southeast Fresno.
It was a big deal, judging by who showed up to celebrate.
Fresno Street Eats rolled out half-dozen food trucks and vendors for an outdoor market in the parking lot of the shopping center at Tulare and Clovis avenues.
Mayor Jerry Dyer, who’s been hyping the Fancher Creek Town Center for a year at least, was at the ribbon-cutting and got a first look at the store, which he documented in a post on Instagram.
“Today, we’re celebrating a major milestone in the transformation of this entire corner of our city,” he wrote.
“It’s been a long time coming.”
That’s decades, if you’re talking about the Fancher Creek development, which promised needed amenities (read: stores and restaurants) to the residents in Sunnyside, Sanger and other parts of southeast Fresno and Clovis. The development was proposed in 2000, but came up against a number of delays. There was a recession and the pandemic and a developer with other properties to attend to (see: Campus Pointe, also from Lance-Kashian & Co.).
Movement on the shopping center, like visible construction operations, began last year.
“For too long, residents have had to travel 15 to 20 minutes just to do their everyday shopping,” Dyer wrote in his Instagram post. “Now, with this brand-new store, families finally have convenient access to a full-service retail and grocery experience, right here in their own neighborhood.”
The largest Target in Fresno
The Target store was one of seven the company recently opened, and one of 300 it plans to have operating across the country within the next decade. It comes in at 148,000 square-feet, according to data from the company.
That’s more than some 20,000 square-feet larger than the average store size and a sign of the company leaning into a strategy of “stores-as-hubs,” with larger footprints and shops-inside-shops.
The Fancher Creek store has drive-up service (those canopies in the parking lot) and same-day delivery (via Target Circle 360). It also has on-site Apple at Target and Disney at Target stores, plus a CVS Pharmacy and full-on Starbucks to complement 13,000 square-feet of “fresh and affordable produce, meat and dairy” and “everyday essentials and pantry staples,” according to a news release from the company.
In-n-Out, Sprouts coming soon to Fancher Creek
At least two other businesses will be coming soon to Fancher Creek. In the same shopping center, work has already begun on a Sprouts Farmers Market store and a new In-N-Out
Sprouts has said its store should open in November. It held a hiring event last month.
In-N-Out should open this year (the palm trees have been planted out front), but no official date has been set.
And still to come for the center are Michaels and PetSmart stores. Chipotle Mexican Grill and HomeGoods have been in lease negotiations and according to past reporting in The Bee, a Dutch Bros, Starbucks and a sit-down restaurant are also in the works, along with a whole other section of the shopping center that would be similar to the lifestyle center at River Park and include a movie theater.
