Residents at Castlemaine and Woodend will soon bid farewell to their trusty Target stores, but the news isn’t all bad with Kmart announcing the two stores will be among the first in Victoria to be remodelled as new-look K hub stores.
Kmart opened the first three of the new look K hub stores at Seymour, Echuca and Cobram in July and Castlemaine and Woodend are next on the list.
The Express understands Woodend Target and Castlemaine Target will both close their doors for the final time on Saturday September 19.
The new-look Castlemaine K hub store is scheduled to open on Thursday October 8 and Woodend will follow on Thursday October 15.
The move follows Wesfarmers’ announcement in May that it would turn between 10 and 40 under-performing Target stores into Kmarts.
Kmart Australia and New Zealand retail director John Gualtieri said the company was excited about the new K hub concept.
“We’re on a mission to make everyday living brighter for Australian families, by providing easy access to the everyday items they need, at the lowest possible price,” he said.
“As a business, we’re committed to opening stores in new communities so that we can reach even more people – and at the end of July, we were excited to introduce the communities of Cobram, Echuca and Seymour to our brand new concept K hub stores. It’s the Kmart experience…a little closer to home.
“Now things may look a little different to what you’d expect from a Kmart store today. We’re giving stores a ‘light touch’ makeover for now, so that we’re not inconveniencing communities with long store closures.
“But keep an eye out; we have big plans to evolve the look and feel of these stores over time. For now – we’ve taken our most popular Kmart products across kids, home and clothing; and brought them to life in a new way.
“A curated collection inspired for a smaller format store, with bigger convenience in mind.”
Mr Gualtieri said K hub customers would have the ability to shop Kmart and Target’s full product range online and have items delivered straight to their door – or they could be able to visit the team in store to collect items, with no additional shipping cost.
“We’ll be extending this service later in the year to include our friends at Catch. So think of K hub as your one-stop-shop for all your favourite Kmart, Target and Catch products,” he said.
All previous Target team members have been offered the opportunity to join the growing Kmart family, with in-depth training and support.
Target has also indicated that team members impacted by store closures would be given priority consideration for new roles created in Kmart and Catch as these businesses continued to grow.
