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Last year, Target unveiled its much-hyped concept store, which features new design elements and a bigger retail space. To be exact, the new location in Katy, Texas, covers 150,000 square feet, compared with the company average of about 130,000.
That might not sound all that exciting, but wait until you see the tour videos on TikTok.
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In the following clip from user @movingwiththemilitary, we see a Target store with large windows that let in more natural light, plants and walls of reclaimed wood, and aisles that are twice as large as their regular counterparts. As for the shopping carts, the design has been improved such that, according to the content creator, “it glides like a dream.”
Because of the concept store’s size, it’s able to offer a wider variety of products (and even stock more high-demand items so you won’t feel left out), as well as fit an expanded food section and outposts for Ulta Beauty, Disney, and Apple.
In addition, the redesign also includes the installation of natural (CO2) refrigerants to help lower emissions, electric vehicle charging stations and solar panels, more open and modernized offices for employees, and a much-bigger backroom fulfillment space to support same-day services like Drive Up.
Beginning this year, the retailer plans to incorporate the concept store’s design in more than half of their 200 full-store remodels and all of their 30 new locations. In 2024, all of Target’s remodels and new stores will have these new design elements.
“Our new store layout is bigger than our previous stores, and that extra space and optimized layout ensures our team can offer the very best of Target to our guests, whether they’re shopping online or in our stores,” said John Conlin, senior vice president, properties, Target.
He added: “Guests are turning to us for more things now than they ever did before — more joy, more inspiration, more fulfillment options — and this new store design enables us to even more easily and efficiently deliver for our guests all those things and more, now and into the future.”
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
IKEA offers over 9,500 products in its range. For those who get frustrated by assembling the Swedish retailer’s furniture, this is the one item you’ll want to skip.
Hotukdeals.com has put out a study revealing the IKEA product that’s the most stressful to assemble. To come up with the results, the company asked 100 participants to put together IKEA products, all while being hooked up to heart rate monitors.
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The item that got people’s heart rates pounding the most? The PAX wardrobe.
For those unfamiliar with the product, PAX is a collection of storage solutions that can be customized. This means that you decide on the styles of frames, doors, and lights, as well as decide on how many drawers, shelves, and pull-outs you want in your closet.
So basically, what’s great about it is that it has many parts that can store your clothes. But what’s not so great is that it has many parts you need to assemble.
“According to our study, the PAX wardrobe is the most scientifically stressful item of flat-pack furniture to assemble, scoring top marks with an overall stress score of 100. DIYers saw an average heart rate increase of 20 percent (13 BPM) when assembling the flagship furnishing, with heart rave variance (HRV) dropping by a quarter (25 percent),” the findings explained.
In addition, only half of the participants were able to fully assemble the PAX wardrobe within the time limit.
Here are the top 10 most frustrating IKEA furniture to assemble, based on the study:
In contrast, the IKEA item that was the easiest to put together was the KALLAX storage system, posting the study’s only 100 percent completion rate and a stress score of just nine.
“A household staple with a simple shape, the KALLAX unit can be assembled without the need for tools, by simply slotting together with wooden dowels — resulting in plain sailing for our subjects…” the researches said, adding: “… the KALLAX was also the fastest item assembled, with an average assembly time of just 16 minutes.”
Sarah writes about all things shopping for Apartment Therapy, The Kitchn, and Cubby helping you find the best deals and the best products for you and your home. A Brooklyn-born Jersey Girl, she loves a good playlist, a good bagel, and her family (but not necessarily in that order).
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Despite all of the good things about city living, there are a few downsides: pollution, traffic, crowds, and — of course — not having a dishwasher. Now, if you also have a small kitchen, having a compact dish rack is a must, but you can’t always fit all of your freshly washed dishes on the rack at once. So, instead of leaving them in the sink to, uh, “soak,” I usually whip out a dish cloth, lay it out on the counter, and use it as a makeshift drying mat for the pots and pans that don’t fit into my dish rack. Unfortunately, I then have to hang dry the dish cloth afterwards, and I can only use it a few times before it gets gross and needs to be tossed in the wash. Thankfully, I found the perfect solution to my dish-drying dilemma: the OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Drying Mat — and, it has a surprise extra feature that makes it a double-duty kitchen workhorse.
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Suffice to say, this isn’t your ordinary drying mat. It’s designed to fit large items including frying pans, serving platters, salad bowls, and more, and the ribbed bottom helps everything dry by increasing airflow underneath. It’s also made from soft, food-safe silicone, which prevents scratches and chips if a wet dish or wine glass slips when you’re putting it on the mat. You can also store it pretty much anywhere, since it has a removable hanging hook and can be rolled up and tucked away in a cabinet or drawer when not in use. (It’s roughly the size of an average placemat, so it’s not too intrusive on your storage space.) However, its best feature is that it also doubles as a heat-resistant trivet to hold hot dishes and pans fresh off the burner or out of the oven.
I love using the OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Drying Mat as an extension of my dish rack, since the little ridges on the bottom allow for solid airflow that actually gets the dishes, pots, and pans dry instead of just turning them into miniature, humid terrariums. And, though I have a little cork trivet on my dining table for serving, since this two-in-one beast is heat-safe up to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, I find myself constantly reaching for it to pop fresh-out-of-the-oven sheet pans on (it’s the perfect size) when my stovetop is crowded with skillets, or while I assemble weeknight meals and sheet-pan dinners. Plus, cleanup is a total breeze — I find that as long as I give it a good rinse with hot water after every other use, it really doesn’t get too dirty. (To be honest, if I didn’t live with my girlfriend, I’d probably never wash it, but since I’m trying to stay on the up-and-up these days, I just lay it on a cutting board in the sink and scrub it down with a sponge every so often.)
So, if you’re in need of a little more real estate while drying dishes, or an extra place to put hot pots and pans without scorching your countertops, snag the easy and affordable OXO Good Grips Large Silicone Drying Mat ASAP.
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
I can chart my progress as a cook by the growth of my spice collection. I started out with just a couple of spices, like granulated garlic and ground cinnamon, but then slowly added others like cumin, coriander, chili powder, curry powder, two kinds of paprika, everything bagel spice, Aleppo chili pepper, garam masala, and turmeric (plus whole spices like cloves, nutmeg, and star anise).
Suffice it to say, my spice drawer has exploded. I know that showing my spices the proper appreciation means storing them away from heat and light, which can degrade them and make them lose potency. So I was delighted when my newest kitchen had a roll-out spice rack, and more thrilled when my spice containers — these chic, round stainless steel capsules — fit inside perfectly.
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But I grew less thrilled as time went on and I actually tried cooking with them. Although I had spent years searching for a spice storage solution that was just the right combination of functional and aesthetically pleasing, and genuinely thought I had found it, the powdery rainbow mess in the bottom of my spice cabinet told me otherwise. No matter how careful I was to line up the stainless steel lids to cover the holes on the side of the containers after I was done using them, I couldn’t seem to avoid inadvertently dumping spices everywhere. And wasting perfectly good spices was worse than the mess. (If you’re wondering why I don’t just use the jars the spices come in, I usually bulk-buy my spices, which means they come in bags and need to be re-homed!)
Begrudgingly, I started the search again. I admit I’m pretty particular. Screw caps and tins aren’t easy to open in the heat of the moment. Kilner glass jars are cute, but too narrow to fit my fingers in for a pinch of what was inside — plus, breakable, a likely possibility in my kitchen. I wanted something minimal, and needed something that fit my spice rack.
I finally found it almost unexpectedly, while looking at the organizational wares of a Japanese company called Yamazaki Home. The bottles are sleek and square, but with rounded edges. Outside of the metal rack they come in, they fit perfectly two-by-two in my spice drawer. Which means I can finally get my entire spice collection in the upper rack — no more kneeling to hunt for cayenne. If you don’t have built-in spice storage and want to display your collection in the included rack, it’s a striking countertop display. Even if you don’t have the same sort of drawer that I have, what is key to know here is that the jars line up perfectly, without wasting any space at all.
These containers are also see-through, which helps with spice identification until I get labels on, and made of resin, so they’re not breakable. But the key is really the lid. It toggles one way to reveal holes for sprinkling, and the other way for a slot you can use to measure larger amounts of spices. I can literally do this one handed using only my thumb.
The only downside of this spice rack that I can see is the price. Forty bucks is steep for six jars, and I need about four times that amount. But it’s a price I’m willing to pay for the convenience and finally having a spill-free spice rack. And these were clearly built to last, so I can make the investment now and enjoy the containers for years to come.
