ODESSA, Fla. (WFLA) – A Tampa Bay area Target store is closing. The Odessa store at 16400 State Road 54 will close on Jan. 30, 2016, a spokesperson told News Channel 8.
RELATED: Stores closed on Thanksgiving 2015
Team members at the Suncoast Pasco County store received notification Monday about the closure. “All eligible Target store team members are being offered the option to transfer to other Target stores,” the spokesperson said.
The decision was based on several years of decreased profitability, according to the company. “The decision to close a Target store is not made lightly. We typically decide to close a store after careful consideration of the long-term financial performance of a particular location,” the spokesperson added.
Target was hurt by a massive credit-card breach before Christmas 2013 that sent shoppers temporarily fleeing. The company also botched a major expansion into Canada and pulled the plug on that earlier this year.
Layoffs in 2015 included 2,500 jobs, or about one-fifth of the workers in the company’s corporate offices in Minneapolis and Brooklyn Park.
A “Save Our Local Target Store” petition has already been started by a person in Odessa. In less than 24 hours it has already surpassed it’s goal of one thousand signatures and is currently up to 1,400.
