Target Expands Its Test Of Curbside Pickup To New York And New Jersey

Image courtesy of Curbside

(Curbside)

(Curbside)

Do you enjoy shopping at Target, but dislike getting out of your car? What if you could visit Target without the temptation to pick up random items and end up with a cart full of merchandise when you were only there to pick up one thing? Your salvation may be at hand: Target is expanding curbside pickup.

Paired with the news that the retailer also is about to try grocery delivery, it looks like maybe they don’t want us in their stores anymore at all. The appeal is obvious, though: it combines online shopping with not having to wait around for two days for your stuff to show up. At the same time, you don’t have to actually go into the store, which is the problem that causes long delays during typical in-store pickup situations.

Target started this service with some stores near San Francisco, where they’ve been working with a startup called Curbside that provides the special app that lets stores know when you’re nearby, so they can get your package ready. Curbside has been working on a special outdoor pod for stores and malls that use its pickup service: whether these will be a San Francisco oddity or as familiar a sight outside stores as Redboxes have become, we’ll find out in the coming years.

So far, the expansion outside of San Francisco will be to ten Target stores in New York City and northern New Jersey, but prepare to have this become an even more common way to shop in coming years.

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