Target Coming to the Staples Store at 16th and Wilshire Blvd in Santa Monica

The Staples on Wilshire Blvd will be replaced by a Target store, according to a liquor license application sign currently displayed in the front window of Staples.

There is also a Target store that recently opened on 11840 Santa Monica Blvd., in West LA. It specializes in clothing.

Target Corporation is the eighth-largest retailer in the United States, and is a component of the S&P 500 Index. Regular Target stores average 135,000 to 200,000 square feet in size. TargetExpress stores hover around 14,000 square feet to 21,000 square feet. Both the stores on the Westside are TargetExpress stores.

The Staples on Wilshire Blvd is scheduled to close on February 7th, leaving its customers to order online or to go to the old Office Depot, now a Staples, on Bundy just north of Olympic Blvd. It offered services from shipping and copying, to mobile phones and computers.

Santa Monica has been frantically tearing down legacy retail to replace it with high density apartments, that rent for $4,500 a month for two bedrooms. Most of these end up being rented out as AIRBNB's. Up until today it seemed likely that the Staples store would have the same fate.

According to a conversation with an employee, Staples paid $80,000 a month to rent the location.