New store news: Target, Urban Outfitters and Woodlands Market

In Corte Madera, the new Urban Outfitters store at the Town Center is taking shape. The shell is finished, staff are being recruited, and the store is being fitted out. The photo below shows how the covered walkway has been enveloped within the store footprint.

Over in San Rafael, the debate over the proposed new Target continues to hit the headlines. Last week the San Anselmo Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution in opposition to the development. Then, after a marathon 7-hour meeting, the San Rafael Planning Commission approved the project:

"Our working families need the convenience of economically priced items in one place that doesn't require a trip on the freeway," Chairwoman Maribeth Bushey-Lang said. While "there are a lot of reasons why this is not the ideal location by any stretch of the imagination," job creation, sales tax revenue and convenient shopping outweigh those concerns, she said.

Also last week the Marin IJ reported that downtown Tiburon will be without a grocery store for up to four months after the Boardwalk Market closes at the end of this year. The owners of the Woodlands Market, who are taking over and expanding the space, had been in discussions with the Boardwalk to buy their business and keep the store open through the transition. However, these talks have broken down, and it looks like the store will close while the Woodlands space is built out, with an opening date sometime in April 2011. This is further bad news for Tiburon, which has the worst performing retail sector in Marin. However, this surely is a great opportunity for a quick-moving operator to set up a grocery store in one of the vacant downtown spaces.