University City's Market at Olive is about to land a heavyweight retail tenant: a roughly 149,000-square-foot Target that will be the largest in the St. Louis area. The store will sit along Olive Boulevard next to Costco and is widely expected to nudge shopping habits on the city's northwest edge. City leaders and developers are touting the project as both an economic jolt and a real-world test of whether big-box retail can deliver neighborhood benefits after years of construction headaches and property buyouts.
Target's corporate Upcoming Store Openings list places the new location on Olive Boulevard between Interstate 170 and Woodson Road with an approximate footprint of 149,900 square feet, making it the chain's largest new store in the region. The site is listed at 8645 Olive Blvd and is part of a broader batch of large-format openings the retailer is rolling out this spring, according to CoStar.
What shoppers will find inside
The larger-format design is expected to offer expanded grocery aisles and additional fulfillment space, along with in-store services that have become standard in Target's bigger locations, including a CVS pharmacy, a Starbucks cafe and Target Optical. Coverage of the rollout also highlights an Apple at Target assortment and other national departments meant to make the U City store a one-stop run for groceries, household basics and a few impulse buys. National reports on the new openings also point to local artwork that will be incorporated into the buildout, as reported by AOL.
Why the development matters to U City
Market at Olive, a roughly 50-acre, multi-anchor development that started with Costco, has been pitched as a major revenue engine for University City. Officials say the influx of commercial activity is supposed to help fund reinvestment in the city's Third Ward. City briefings document the long path to the project, including property acquisitions and commitments to channel a share of tax proceeds into housing repairs, demolition of derelict homes and small-business support, according to the Market at Olive overview on U City's site.
Opening day, hours and what to expect
Local reporting pegs the University City Target for a mid-May debut, with one outlet citing a May 19, 2026 opening date and store hours running 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily. That same coverage notes that the location will feature Drive Up, order pickup and same-day delivery, and is expected to bring more than 170 new jobs to the area, according to FOX2.
