Desperate times called for desperate measures. My daughter had completed a lot of jobs around the house to earn enough money to order two outfits from the Target brand American Girl Doll series, Our Generation. Persistently, she earned the money, researched the outfits, and had us place the order online for curbside pickup at Target. Finally it arrived via email notification, and it was ready for pickup. Trouble is, we weren’t ready to drive up to the store in Poughkeepsie until days later, and that’s when the next email came in on a Sunday: “You missed your pickup window, and your items have been placed back on the shelf, and your order refunded.”

#ParentFail. The Sunday that the refund email came, I got into the car and headed up Route 9, mask and wipes in hand, to go inside of Target to get those outfits back off the shelf. At the time, Target had a corner in the front of the store that contained bags of orders, similar to how they do it at Christmas when orders from other stores get shipped to yours for pickup. This corner has since been replaced with swimwear, but at the time, it’s what a store associate searched through to find the outfits.

The outfits weren’t there, so I went deeper into the store, all the way to the Kid section, to sadly not find those outfits, but did find two others that would work. It was 6pm on a Sunday, and foot traffic in the store was low. Social distancing felt fine. In the name of journalism, I headed back to Target the following Sunday at 2:30pm to test a busier time, days after the May 15th Reopening Day in New York.

Social distancing had gone out the window at Poughkeepsie’s Target. Being used to Beacon’s vibe of politely moving out of the way for each other in the social distance dance, this two-step wasn’t really happening here, yet. There were some COVID-19 changes, however.

Clothing, Beauty and Book Isles Are More Spacious

Target in Poughkeepsie used to have some very cramped clothing isles. So cramped in fact, that a Target shopping cart wouldn’t fit through. Those isles have since been cleared out a bit, and the feeling is more breathable. The Beauty section has been opened up, where once it too had corners so tight, the cart would barely turn the corner. The books, which were crammed into the back of the Electronic section, have been brought out more into the Toy section, so browsing through them is easier and more spacious.

The entire Sports section has been moved and replaced with Pets, yet in the back corner of the store, which is usually reserved for changing seasons (think Back To School, Christmas Decorations, Patio Furniture) also has more room to browse. When asked if these more spacious changes were COVID-19 related, a store associate answered that they were planned in the works the before the pandemic hit, and just happened to be COVID-19 friendly. ALBB has not confirmed with Target Corporate yet to see if this layout change really was a coincidence, but if we get confirmation, this article will be updated.

The main isle of Target is still crowded, with people moving in any direction, not minding how close they are moving past each other. Another citizen shopper reports in to A Little Beacon Blog that at Adams, just down the Route 9 strip, isles have been marked with direction arrows, and the number of people allowed into the store at Adams has been limited.

Masks and Cleaning Inside Of Target

Signs posted at the entrance tell everyone to wear a mask inside of Target. Most everyone had one on, and at one point, an announcement came over the loud-speaker, thanking people for their cooperation in wearing masks, and to continue doing so.

Target associates have been assigned to cleaning surfaces of the drink refrigerators and shopping carts. Meanwhile, up the parking ramp at Best Buy, that retail location remains closed to the public, but with curb-side pickup that has been happening since the shut-down. In-home installations, however, have resumed. For example, if you buy a stove from Best Buy, their team can come in and install it for you.

As of this post (5/19/2020), Starbucks inside of Target remained closed.

Overall, the vibe at Target was crowded. If social distancing is important to you, and you don’t want to leave feeling like you need to take a shower, then you’ll want to go at off-times, like in the morning during a weekday. This writer did take a shower after the afternoon trip on Sunday. There were too many people.