By Laura Keeter

Daily Times Staff Writer

Target opens Wednesday, which rings up as a big "cha-ching" day in Wilson retail history.

The last major big box retailer that opened was Wal-Mart in 1993. Big Kmart closed here in 2003.

Shoppers can finally shop the bulls-eye store at Heritage Crossing shopping center beginning at 8 a.m.

Tonight is a "VIG" (Very Important Guest) opening for invited community leaders. Target will hold a grand opening Sunday.

Target is the main anchor store of the new Heritage Crossing shopping center, located at the corner of Raleigh Road Parkway and Airport Boulevard.

Landing Target helped create the new shopping center, said Ed Etheridge, one of the developers of Heritage Crossing.

"The catalyst to it was to locate a retailer of the size of Target ... It took Target to really bring it all together. The other retailers that we'll be bringing in probably wouldn't have come to Wilson on their own, but with Target here, it made all the difference," Etheridge said.

Etheridge, who began working on the shopping center about six years ago, said Wilson hit a "window of opportunity" with Target. Today it would probably be harder to get Target because the retailer has so much demand to go in other places, he said.

As of Oct. 28, Target will have 44 stores in North Carolina among almost 1,500 total stores.

Target was the first tenant announced for the shopping center, and it has been a magnet for new retail growth and even local incentive money.

Belk, another strong anchor at the center, will open Friday for a soft opening and will have its grand opening next Wednesday. Marshalls was the first retailer to open Sept. 14 at Heritage Crossing.

"It's just absolutely wonderful that we've finally reached this point," Etheridge said. "I think it's a big milestone for Wilson. I think it'll help with a lot of things."

Etheridge expects the center to be a regional draw as it continues to grow. The advantage is stores will be concentrated in all one area.

The new Target is a 127,000 square-foot general merchandise store done in the newest version of Target, said Joshua Thomas, corporate spokesman. The store will include a food avenue with a Starbucks.

The Wilson store has hired 40 full-time and 150 part-time employees. Jim Gonzales is the store manager or "team leader."

In Target, shoppers will find design partnerships (such as clothing designed by Isaac Mizrahi) and a user-friendly merchandise alignment that places like merchandise with like merchandise, Thomas said.

For example, in the "mom and baby world," shoppers will find everything from infant toddler furniture to infant formula and clothing, so shoppers don't have to go from one end of the store to the other end, he said.

Store hours are Monday through Saturday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Heritage Crossing developers are Heritage Place of Wilson LLC, which includes attorney Allen Thomas, attorney David Woodard, Etheridge and Adkins heirs, who inherited the roughly 600-acre property.

The local corporation is in partnership on the shopping center with two Charlotte firms, Core Properties and Collett & amp; Associates.

keeter@wilsondaily.com | 265-7817