Maitland will soon boast a second Kmart department store.
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A spokesperson for the Kmart Group, the parent company of both Target and Kmart, confirmed this week that the Stockland Green Hills Target store will soon close and be converted into a Kmart.
Kmart's Maitland store, located in Maitland Riverside Plaza, will continue to trade.
The Kmart Group, comprising Kmart and Target, was formed as the Department Stores division in February 2016 and rebranded to the Kmart Group in November 2018.
The division operates 520 stores across Australia and New Zealand and employs more than 46,000 team members.
Target Green Hills will close on September 16 and open as a Kmart store on October 1.
"As announced recently, Target will transform its store network seeing a smaller number of stores and a focus on a stronger online business," the spokesperson said.
"Across the Kmart Group we want to build profitable and sustainable businesses and one of the ways we can achieve this is through optimisation of our store network - we have made a significant effort to avoid store closures and retain our team by converting suitable Target stores to Kmart stores.
"We can confirm that our Target Green Hills store will become a Kmart on 1 October 2020.
"All team members in Target stores scheduled for conversion to Kmart, including Green Hills will be offered the opportunity to join the growing Kmart team," the spokesperson said.
"This announcement does not impact Kmart in Maitland - this will continue trading as Kmart.
"Should anything change we will be sure to inform our team and the community."
Maitland Business Chamber President Judy Brown said she was disappointed to learn Target was closing.
"Target is a solid reason why customers went into the area. This allowed the small shops more foot traffic.
"I am pleased to see that they are not abandoning Maitland people entirely. Reopening as a Kmart will keep some jobs in Maitland," she said.
The company announced in May that it would convert 10 to 40 Target stores and 52 Country Target stores in regional areas to Kmart stores. At the time of that announcement the Green Hills Target store was not earmarked for change.
