An avid discount shopper, Isabel Nieves is proud to say that she would travel miles to get a bargain.
“I’m a single mom with three kids to raise,” said Nieves, a home health aide who was born and raised in North Bergen. “The money never goes far. So anytime I can find a sale for anything, I’ll go for it.”
For the last year or so, Nieves traveled to the Target store in Clifton off Route 3 West. After all, Target offers groceries to clothes to household items.
“You can’t beat the prices,” Nieves said. “I love the place.”
So when Nieves heard that Target Stores, Inc. was building a brand new store on Tonnelle Avenue on the site of the old Crown Cork & Seal factory, she was overjoyed. She couldn’t wait to get in the store.
Luckily, two of her cousins and a close friend were hired among the 254 new employees to work at the shiny, new department store. So Nieves was among 100 or so lucky customers invited Tuesday to shop at the store as a “test run” for store employees.
That opportunity took place after the ceremonial opening in front of many township dignitaries, including Mayor Nicholas Sacco and commissioners Allen Pascual and Theresa Ferraro.
“It’s really amazing,” Nieves said of the store. “I’m so glad this is here. It’s going to make my life that much easier.”
Opens today
The regular grand opening to the rest of the public was slated for today (Sunday, July 25) at 8 a.m.
“We’re all ecstatic here,” said Ann Flores, the executive for guest services for Target Stores. “The customers were allowed in [Tuesday] to let the neighborhood that we’re here, but we’re ready for the grand opening on Sunday.”
Sacco said that he was pleased to be invited to participate in the ribbon cutting ceremony, especially since Target Stores has already embraced its new community. The new store’s general manager, Dan Dabrinski, presented Sai Rao, the executive director of the township’s Free Public Library, with a grant that will enable the library to provide more programs for the youth of North Bergen and Guttenberg.
“They’ve been a very good neighbor already,” Sacco said. “They’ve donated money to start a reading program at the library and they’re willing to do other things for the community. They’ve become a great neighbor in such a short period of time.”
“Whenever we open a new store,” said Flores, “we make an attempt to give back to the community right away.”
Affect on the area
Sacco said that he was also impressed that 70 percent of the 254 new employees are North Bergen residents, so the new store will serve as a financial boom all around.
“It wasn’t a requirement for Target to come to North Bergen, but we certainly encouraged it,” Sacco said. “It’s a boom to the residents of the town, because it has provided jobs. I met a lot of people today [Tuesday] that were residents of the town who were given new jobs by Target.”
Sacco said that he was pleased to see an area that was once a vacant and deserted factory, a total eyesore, transformed into a viable shopping area. It’s all part of the plan to revitalize that portion of Tonnelle Avenue, an area that was designated in dire need of redevelopment in 1999.
Now, with the Lowe’s Home Improvement Center to the north and Target to the south, the lone area that has not been redeveloped yet is the Shiva Properties shopping plaza, where K-Mart, Marshall’s and other stores are currently located. There is litigation pending about the possibility of that proposed redevelopment.
“The whole area is becoming more attractive and more viable,” Sacco said. “Other stores are moving into the area as well. Things are starting to happen and it’s great for the town.”
Sacco cited the proposed improvements that will be made by the state Department of Transportation to Tonnelle Avenue, which is also known as State Highway Routes 1&9. The road is expected to be widened near the shopping areas, with special access (entrance and exit ramps) to the stores.
Also, an overpass is planned to be built at the intersection of Tonnelle Avenue and 70th Street, one that is similar to the other overpasses constructed at 32nd Street and Secaucus Road. The overpass, slated to be built within the next three years, in time for the N.J. Transit’s Hudson-Bergen Light Rail’s arrival into the township, will eliminate the traffic woes caused by the CMX commercial train rails that are located near that intersection.
Sacco also said that he’s certain that the Target store will be one of the chain’s more popular spots, considering that it is located in the township’s Urban Enterprise Zone, meaning that Target can offer 3 percent sales tax, as opposed to 6 percent in most of the state.
“With the UEZ, 2 cents on every sale comes back to the town, but the savings in the sales tax should be a really big draw,” Sacco said. “It should attract a lot of people from a large region.”
Flores said that Target was pleased to join the North Bergen community.
“We were able to take what was a vacant area and revitalize it,” said Flores, who has worked for Target for the last three years. “I know that our employees were so excited to get the doors open. They had been going through a month of training, waiting for this day. Everyone was really excited. We were really ready.”