Michael Goldberg carries out "over-the-top" redesign of a New York Target store

American designer Michael Goldberg has overhauled US retail giant Target's store in SoHo, New York, introducing a red tunnel based on the brand's logo and displays that wrap around the building's cast-iron columns.

The store on the corner of Broadway and Houston Street has received a major refresh courtesy of Goldberg's Something Special Studios, which used the location in the heart of Manhattan to guide the design.

Phase one of the project involved refreshing the ground-level space, which is now open to shoppers, while phase two will tackle the basement next year.

To appease both tourists and locals, the store was reimagined to invite curiosity and slower browsing, yet still be practical for sourcing essentials.

"We started by thinking about when shopping was more fun and more exciting," Goldberg told Dezeen. "At that time there were big over-the-top displays."

"This space is definitely a bit over-the-top in terms of how we're merchandising. It's really meant to inspire and spark joyful discovery," he added.

From the store's entrance, shoppers are guided into a red tunnel-like space based on the shape of Target's bullseye logo.

This enveloping structure is curated like a concept store, with products ranging across fashion, home, beauty and lifestyle merchandised based on moods or personalities that will be frequently rotated.

"It's a love letter to New York," Gigi Guerra, Target's VP of creative curation, told Dezeen. "This is really about curation and about how a New Yorker shops... From a design standpoint, it's a completely re-envisioned approach to shopping."

The signature red hue extends over the curved walls and display niches, and across the rubber floor and rounded central podiums where more goods are presented.

At the end of the tunnel, an area dedicated to a project titled Curated By, for which a famed New Yorker selects their favourite Target products — kicking off with actor and comedian Meg Stalter.

A modular display based on toy building blocks can be reconfigured as desired when it's time to switch up the offering, or easily removed when the store hosts events. A track lighting system overhead can also be adjusted depending on the specific need.

"The whole space is designed for modularity, and for the store team to be able to utilise and evolve it," Goldberg said.

Towards the back, a display designed around gifting will be updated seasonally. For Winter 2025-26, this takes the form of a Gifting Gondola in front of a huge mountain scape that covers the rear wall.

An area dedicated to beauty is contained within a beige drum-shaped volume, which deftly curves around historic cast-iron columns to highlight the original architecture. Brick walls are also left exposed in places for this reason.

Inside the Broadway Beauty Bar, plenty of mirrors allow shoppers to create their own content using the test products, and a special photo machine takes a selfie and prints it out on a Target receipt.

"This area in particular is almost like a content studio," Guerra said. "We can have different makeup artists come in and use this space experimentally."

Another zone, named The Drop, is dedicated to displaying trending products and brands, and promises new collections dropping monthly.

Overall, the redesign is intended to create a more boutique-style destination, encouraging shoppers to linger longer and interact with more product categories than they may have visited for.

"The beauty of Target is that sometimes you're coming for deodorant, but you end up walking out with a dress or a book," said Goldberg. "We're really trying to enhance that and set up a space that invites and inspires. That is really at the core of the design approach."

Also in SoHo, the MoMA Design Store recently received a makeover from Peterson Rich Office, and Snøhetta created an "ephemeral" retail concept lab.

In other retail giant news, Walmart unveiled a largely unchanged logo for its "next chapter" earlier this year, while IKEA debuted a children's collection for "play in the whole home" during Miami art week.

The photography is courtesy of Target.

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