Kirna Zabete at Target Shops (or The Small Store Blues ...)

 

The Kirna Zabete collection is ... where?

I'm so sorry I bothered to get up at an unholy hour Sunday morning and drive the 45 minutes to the Fort Smith Target store to beat the crowds for the 8 a.m. debut of Kirna Zabete collaboration for their "Shops" program. I was 10 minutes late, but the only person there. And, out of forty-seven clothing items available on-line, there were only about twelve items on three racks, featuring exactly one each of available sizes. One extra-small, one small, one medium, one large, one extra large. One. The items themselves were an odd mixture of the lower price items, and none of the most interesting, fashion-forward items featured in the collection. Exactly none of the items I wanted were there.

Only the first three racks that you see above are for the Zabete collection.  The rest is the usual Target stock.

As sad as that was, the lack of selection of the accessory line was even worse. The photograph below says it all.

(Update ... by Wednesday afternoon, Target had added a few scarves from the line and put out more items that they already had displayed.  I saw no additional clothing. The display still looks sparse, and is a stingy representation of collection items, but it is good to see that our local Target is making an effort. )

 

The point of the "Shops" concept was to keep stock available for the advertised period. Not only was there very little of anything to buy, I am told by our local store customer service not to count on any replenishment once these items are gone. As of Monday morning, most of the items had been identified as "discontinued."  I'm told by the Target dress department staff that we don't get much stock because we are only a small store. 

I am a Target fan. A devoted fan, and no one was as happy as I when Target FINALLY moved into our area a couple of years ago. Prior to this, I have driven ninety miles to snag a black trench coat from their collaboration collection by Isaac Mizrahi (which has garnered me compliments from complete strangers.) And I was hopeful that their "Shops for Target" program would cure the huge problems that marked their Missoni collection. In case you missed the kerfuffle caused by the Missoni event, most customers who took the trouble to shop the opening went home empty handed because of insufficient stock.

 

Here in Fort Smith, the Missoni event was well attended, with customers clearing out the best items within an hour after opening.  I've attended the early opening of some of these local "Shops" events and the excitement about them has dwindled to zero.

You can shop online, of course, but you may not want to if you prefer to try on, judge the color and quality of construction or feel the fabric. They seem to still have plenty of stock at the website, as of this writing.

 

You can see what we're missing here: http://www.target.com/c/kirna-zabete-the-shops-at-target/-/N-56c87