By Kelli Wynn and Clint Davis
Staff Writers
TROTWOOD — Two local Target stores are among the eight closing across the United States, the Minneapolis-based retailer announced Friday.
The Target stores at 2800 Shiloh Springs Road in Trot-wood and 6775 Roosevelt Parkway in Middletown will close May 3, according to Stephanie Mohr, Target spokeswoman.
The Middletown store opened in 1995, followed by Trotwood’s opening in 1998.
“The decision to close a Target store is not made lightly. We typically decide to close a store after careful consideration of the long-term financial performance of a particular location. Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability,” Mohr said.
All eligible Target staff at these stores will have an option to transfer to nearby stores. This affects 90 team members in Trotwood and 80 team members in Middletown.
Trotwood City Manager Michael Lucking said there was no indication that the store was in jeopardy of closing when he and other city officials met with store management earlier this week during a routine visit.
“They did not indicate that there was any closing forthcoming,” Lucking said.
News of the Trotwood store closing comes the same month of the official closing of the Sears store, which is located on the former Salem Mall property site.
“I think that speaks volumes about retail in general, particularly in Dayton, Ohio. I think all store operators are critically looking at their operations to determine how they maximize their profits,” Lucking said. “Obviously, this store did not fit into that equation well for Target.”
Lucking said it’s important for residents to support businesses in their own communities. “Generally speaking, every retailer, given the challenges that retailers are having these days, clearly they look at the profitability of each and every store as a standalone operation. If consumers want to have those types of stores, it’s imperative that they spend those dollars at their local stores.”
Residents have noticed the lack of retailers in Trotwood.
“Everything is moving out and we have to go to Center-ville or to the Dayton Mall to shop,” said Beverly Dezaar of Trotwood.
“It’s kind of bad because everything else is closing here in Trotwood. They have nothing open,” Trotwood resident Michael Bridges said. “They closed Sears, they closed Kmart, they closed Cub Foods
— so where do people have to shop at here?”