Target date: West Lebanon location of chain retailer to open Nov. 7

WEST LEBANON — The long wait is finally over.

The Upper Valley’s first Target store, located in the TJ Maxx Plaza on Route 12A in West Lebanon, will open next Sunday. Six days later, on Nov. 13, outdoor apparel and gear store Sierra will open next door.

“We are very excited about both openings and think both Target and Sierra will be fantastic additions to the community,” Dan Zelson, a principal in the plaza’s leasing agent, Charter Realty & Development, wrote in an email to the Valley News. “We are very proud to have been able to bring them to West Lebanon.”

The nearly 86,000-square-foot Target and the smaller Sierra store will replace Kmart and a smaller Sears appliance store. Target spent $6.7 million to renovate the space, which had been repaired after flood damage during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The Target store will also contain a CVS pharmacy.

Kmart announced it would close in spring 2020. That announcement was followed by the news that JCPenney would close its West Lebanon store, in the Upper Valley Plaza next door. Sears, which used to be a mainstay of that plaza closed in 2017 and a permanent tenant has yet to be found.

The openings of Target and Sierra come just before the holiday season. The two stores join TJ Maxx, Books-a-Million and Joann Fabric and Crafts in the plaza. Since Target filed plans with the city last December to renovate the former Kmart, people have taken to social media to share their excitement. In the months since, there has been much talk about when the store will open, with the store cagey about a firm date until now.

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