Target will soon be in all 50 states with store in works for holdout Vermont

Target has been around since 1962. It has more than 1,800 stores in places far away from its Minnesota headquarters like Hawaii and Alaska.

But until now, it couldn't say that it was in all 50 U.S. states. There has been one holdout: Vermont.

That will finally change. The retailer announced this week that it will open a 60,000-square foot store in South Burlington, Vermont in October 2018.

The announcement was big news in the state where some residents would take the ferry across Lake Champlain to shop at the Target in Plattsburgh, New York.

So what took Target so long to get to Vermont?

I called up Kevin Dorn, South Burlington's city manager, to get some answers. He happens to be a Minnesota native, having grown up in the small town of Springfield in the southwest part of the state. So he knows all about Target.

"Target has wanted to be in Vermont for the better part of a decade," he said, adding that he used to work for the state and was involved in prior discussions with Target on previous attempts. "But the company didn't want to go through a long contracted dispute over locations."

"There's an open space ethic that is very strong," he said.

Still, Walmart has managed to open a handful of stores in the state. Other big retailers have, too.

In 2012, Target tried to open one of its big-box stores in Williston, but residents balked at the size of it.

But this time around, Target was successful because two factors converged. First, a Bon-Ton store in South Burlington is going to close. Target is going to take that space, saving it from some of the extra regulatory hurdles of building a new store. Second, the retailer has been opening smaller stores that could fit into that space. This store will be about half the size of one of its typical big-box stores.

"Target has found the right opportunity to open our first store in Vermont," Mark Schindele, a Target executive, said in a statement. "Our expansion to the Green Mountain state is long overdue and we are thrilled to meet our newest neighbors and community when our South Burlington store opens in 2018."

"In many cases, we've planned our trip around going to a Target," he said. "I've probably been to most Targets in New England now."

Others seem excited by it, too.

"This is the first good news I've heard all month," one person tweeted.

But a reporter for Vermont Public Radio found some less enthusiastic responses when he queried residents about the impending arrival of Target.