Target Opens at the Metreon on October 14

The Metreon. It started out cool, had a serious mid-life crisis, but seems to be on the rebound. Conceived by Sony, but poorly executed, the project was home to a variety of failed retail experiments and one good movie theater until it was swooped up by the Westfield group. They’ve been putting quite a bit of time and money into the site, with the biggest change being the announcement of a Target store as the lead retail anchor.

Target Arrives in San Francisco on October 14. Image source: Target.com

If you drive by the site on a regular basis, you will have no doubt noticed that plenty of work has been happening on the site.

I saw an advertisement along Market St. this morning that they’ve announced their grand opening date – October 14! October 14 is a Sunday, so I have no idea what kind of crazy opening day specials they’ll have, or if they’ll open at 12:01am just because they can.

I honestly have to say I have mixed feelings about the Target opening at The Metreon. Target has a horrible reputation when it comes to LGBT equality, and while I know I shouldn’t shop at Target, sometimes the convenience outweighs my guilt and I end up in one of their San Mateo county stores.

From a purely financial view, I’m glad to see them in the city. San Francisco will finally collect sales tax revenue on purchases that otherwise would go to San Mateo county, so that’s a good thing (as Martha Stewart would say, although I think she’s a k-mart gal). Financial upside for the city aside, though, Target is a formula-retail chain, and it will put pressure on smaller local businesses that have a far better track record when it comes to supporting GLBT people and the GLBT community.

Perhaps this is a chance for constructive engagement? What are your thoughts?