Target Corp. has opened the largest food distribution center in its nationwide rollout in Thornton as the Minnesota-based retailer continues investing in its food and beverage supply chain.

This is Target’s ninth food distribution center and its first with consolidation capabilities, the company said in a statement Monday. The consolidation center is intended to reduce the volume and cost of transportation and streamline arrivals, the company said.

“We expect from farm to shelf that we’ll be able to reduce our total lead time within our supply chain by one to two days,” Thornton Distribution Center Site Director Erik Hansen said in the statement.

Target purchased the 96-acre property, which included the 529K SF freezer and cooler facility, at 15450 Washington St. in Thornton for $231M in 2025, according to previous Bisnow reporting. The company invested $367M into the center, Target said in the statement.

The U.S. cold storage market is resetting as record deliveries meet softer food inventories and uneasy consumer spending. Vacancy climbed to a 20‑year high to end 2025, despite 3.5M SF of positive net absorption last year, according to a Newmark report.

The distribution center will employ 383 people and service nearly 130 stores across Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri, a company spokesperson told Bisnow.

“This facility represents so much more than just a new building. This is an investment in the future of food and beverages at Target,” Amy Probst, senior vice president of Target’s food and beverage supply chain, trade and transportation, said in a statement. “We’re advancing and expanding our fresh supply chain capabilities so that guests can rely on us for all their high-quality meals, snacks and seasonal treats.”

Target’s food and beverage arm has grown by $9B since 2019, Hansen wrote in a LinkedIn post. The company reported a 6% year-over-year increase in food and beverage sales, although overall net sales declined 6.7%, according to its first-quarter earnings report.

Target has a long history in Colorado. The retailer opened its first store outside of Minnesota about 60 years ago in the Centennial State, the company said in the statement.

The national retailer has since expanded with storefronts throughout the state. It opened a 142K SF “sortation” facility at 6300 Broadway in north Denver a few years ago.

Target’s local growth is expected to continue as it prepares to open a new store in Firestone this summer and a 151K SF store at Link 56, a 150-acre mixed-use development in Denver’s Green Valley Ranch neighborhood. Target plans to open two storefronts in Colorado next year, the company said in the statement.