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Take a look inside Target’s new fashion-focused store in New York’s SoHo neighborhood
Target has turned its store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood into a unique concept store. Inside of an area that resembles the company’s Bullseye logo, the company has “The Drop,” a rotating display of seasonal styles and curated items.
Courtesy of Target
In one of New York City’s most fashion-forward neighborhoods, Target is unveiling its latest effort to keep up with trends and lead the way on style.
The Minneapolis-based retailer, which is in the middle of a turnaround effort and on the cusp of a CEO change, gave a makeover to its big-box store in SoHo at 600 Broadway.
The one-of-a-kind concept store, which opens Tuesday, will have rotating merchandise, curated displays chosen by celebrities and influencers, and other kinds of special programming, Chief Guest Experience Officer Cara Sylvester said.
The SoHo store is part of a broader push by incoming CEO Michael Fiddelke to win back Target’s reputation for style and sharp merchandise. When he was named Target’s next leader in August, he said that would be one of his top three priorities, along with improving the customer experience and rolling out technology to make Target faster and more efficient. He will start the role in February, succeeding longtime CEO Brian Cornell.
Target is trying to get back to growth after roughly four years of stagnant annual sales due to self-inflicted challenges and a more difficult economic backdrop. Store foot traffic and sales have fallen as shoppers have responded to sloppier stores, out-of-stock and locked-up items, and the company’s decision to roll back key diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Consumers across the country have also become more selective about buying discretionary merchandise, which has long been Target’s sweet spot, as they pay more for necessities like groceries, electricity and housing.
At an event previewing the store on Monday night, Fiddelke described the SoHo location as “a punctuation point” for Target’s sense of style and its plans for the future.
In an interview with CNBC, Sylvester said the store’s merchandise has completely changed. The location, which opened about seven years ago, drew many shoppers and had strong sales, but sold mostly items found in drug and convenience stores, she said. It didn’t carry any of Target’s clothing or home decor, which felt both out of step with the neighborhood and like a missed opportunity for Target, she said.
“We said, ‘This is the style and fashion capital. We have to be able to showcase the best,'” she said, recalling the inspiration for the project.
From start to finish, the store’s redesign took four months as the company raced to get the project done ahead of the holidays, Sylvester said. It has redone the store’s first floor and plans to redesign the basement floor in the coming year, she added.
The SoHo store is reopening at a time when holiday shoppers and tourists flock to the major shopping district for holiday gifts and party outfits — and as Target chases sales across the country during the critical shopping season. It is one of 42 stores that the retailer has in New York City and nearly 2,000 that is has in the U.S.
“The world looks at New York to see what’s new and what’s next,” Sylvester said in remarks at the launch event. “And we want them to look at Target when they see what’s new and what’s next.”
A look inside Target’s SoHo store
Inside of a merchandise area that resembles Target’s Bullseye logo, the store will have rotating merchandise that’s organized around a theme.
Melissa Repko, CNBC
When customers step inside of Target’s SoHo store, they will enter a long, red hallway that resembles the inside of Target’s Bullseye logo. The area of the store is called “The Drop,” and Target will display merchandise there chosen around themes that feel relevant for the time of year, Sylvester said.
Like most of the store, the rotating area will swap out about every four to six weeks, she added.
As the store opens, The Drop is themed around the holidays — including outfits and items that a shopper may need for going out, lounging at home or giving a gift to a party host. The store displays range across categories, mixing in clothing, home decor, beauty items and more. For example, The Drop currently includes a table of products that a shopper might want if they’re hosting a night at home with friends, such as card games, an espresso martini mix and eye-catching glassware for the cocktails.
Sylvester said the company’s merchants are already working on the next two themes for The Drop, which will be focused on wellness in January, the season of New Year’s resolutions, and Valentine’s Day in February.
Target’s SoHo store has an eye-catching “Beauty Bar” that shows off fragrances, makeup items and more.
Courtesy of Target
Customers can step inside of Target’s “Broadway Beauty Bar,” which is designed for selfies and social media posts. It will have a rotating assortment of Target’s beauty merchandise, including fragrance brands like Fine’ry that are exclusive to Target, and trendy mini versions of face washes, lip glosses and more from national brands.
At launch, Target is featuring items chosen by celebrity makeup artist Katie Jane Hughes.
Along with the “Beauty Bar,” the store sells items typically found at the big-box retailer, including large shampoos, body washes and cotton balls.
Near the beauty area, shoppers can also press a button and snap a black-and-white selfie.
Though the store’s layout is new, it shares a similarity with some of Target’s other New York City locations — some items are locked behind glasses cases that an employee needs to open.
Target will tap celebrities and influencers to pick their favorite Target items for its “Curated By” display.
Courtesy of Target
In the back of the store’s first floor, Target will have a rotating “Curated By” display of items from across the retailer’s beauty, fashion and home categories, picked by celebrities and other creators known for their sense of style. Shoppers can browse and buy that person’s favorites or scan a QR code to see a list of them.
Target’s first Curated By features favorites from Megan Stalter, an actress and comedian who is in HBO’s “Hacks.” Some of her picks include a throw pillow, a pair of hot pink slippers, metallic water bottles and Universal’s “Wicked: For Good” movie-themed clothing items.
Inside of the “Gifting Gondola,” Target will show off exclusive merchandise like plushes from its toy brand, Gigglescape, and items themed around its dog mascot, Bullseye, such as special edition Haribo candies.
Courtesy of Target
Also at the store, shoppers can find Target’s “Gifting Gondola,” which features merchandise exclusive to Target.
Currently, the display includes holiday-themed plush penguins, bears and other products from Target’s toy brand, Gigglescape. It also includes some giftable items themed around the retailer’s bull terrier, Bullseye, including special edition Haribo gummy candies and a Bullseye Pez dispenser.
Over time, Sylvester said Target may introduce some items that are unique to the SoHo store and can only be bought there.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.
The former One Direction member-turned-solo artist appears on the Sunday Times list for the first time.
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Budget 2026: FM Nirmala Sitharaman gives a strong push to manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation, while proposing a simpler tax and customs system.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents the Union Budget 2026-27.
Budget 2026 Takeaways: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday presented the Union Budget 2026-27, giving a strong push to manufacturing, infrastructure and job creation, proposing a simpler tax and customs regime, and hailing the government’s modernisation drive as a “reforms express”.
The Budget 2026 is anchored around three ‘kartavyas’ — driving growth by enhancing productivity and competitiveness, building people’s capacity, and ensuring inclusive development under the vision of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas.
In her ninth consecutive Budget in Parliament, Sitharaman laid out a multi-pronged strategy to sustain growth amid global uncertainty, including expanding domestic electronics and semiconductor capabilities, de-risking infrastructure projects, skilling India’s youth for emerging technologies, and easing compliance for taxpayers and importers.
Here are the key takeaways from Budget 2026 across manufacturing, infrastructure, skills, AI, taxation and customs duty.
Manufacturing Gets A Boost
Budget 2026 put a special emphasis on the manufacturing landscape in India. The outlay for electronics components manufacturing was raised sharply to Rs 40,000 crore, while new schemes for rare earth magnets, chemical parks, container manufacturing and capital goods seek to reduce import dependency, and strengthen domestic supply chains. Textiles got an integrated, employment-oriented package covering fibres, clusters, skilling and sustainability.
Infrastructure-Led Growth
Infrastructure got a boost with a higher capex allocation and initiatives like a risk guarantee fund to de-risk projects for private developers, new dedicated freight corridors and national waterways, dedicated REITs (real estate investment trusts) for recycling of significant real estate assets of central public sector enterprises (CPSEs), and a seaplane VGF (viability gap funding) scheme.
The Centre’s capital expenditure (capex) target has been increased to Rs 12.2 lakh crore for FY27, up from Rs 11.2 lakh crore earmarked for the current financial year. Moreover, maintaining the fiscal discipline, Sitharaman said the government expects the fiscal deficit to be at 4.3 per cent of the GDP in 2026-27, lower than 4.4 per cent projected for the current financial year.
Tier-II and Tier-III cities were placed at the centre of urban growth via City Economic Regions, backed by reform-linked funding.
“We shall continue to focus on developing infrastructure in cities with over 5 lakh population (Tier II and Tier III), which have expanded to become growth centres,” Sitharaman said in her Budget Speech.
Greater Emphasis On Skilling
The Budget placed renewed emphasis on the services economy as a jobs engine. A high-powered Education-to-Employment and Enterprise Committee will realign skilling with market needs, including the impact of emerging technologies.
Content creation and creative industries get a boost through AVGC labs in schools and colleges, support for animation, gaming and comics, and new institutional capacity for design and hospitality. Tourism-linked skilling, from guides to digital heritage documentation, signals a clear intent to convert culture and content into employment and exports.
“I propose to support the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies, Mumbai in setting up AVGC Content Creator Labs in 15,000 secondary schools and 500 colleges,” FM Sitharaman said. AVGC stands for animation, visual effects, gaming and comics.
AI & Semiconductors Push
Artificial intelligence (AI) was positioned as a cross-sector force multiplier rather than a standalone theme. The Budget provided a push to artificial intelligence (AI) by promoting adoption with governance, agriculture, education and skilling, including proposals for AI-enabled advisory tools for farmers and AI integration in education curricula.
On hardware, the semiconductor strategy expanded decisively under ISM 2.0 (India Semiconductor Mission 2.0), with focus on domestic equipment manufacturing, materials, research centres and workforce development, signalling a long-term commitment to building a resilient chip ecosystem in India.
Taxation, ITR, TDS, TCS
A major structural reform comes with the Income Tax Act, 2025, effective April 1, 2026, containing simpler rules and redesigned forms.
Budget 2026 provided compliance relief for individuals, including extended timelines for revising returns to March 31 from December 31 earlier, staggered ITR due dates, and easier filing of Form 15G/15H through depositories.
Individuals with ITR-1 and ITR-2 returns will continue to file till July 31, and non-audit business cases or trusts are proposed to be allowed time till August 31, according to the Budget Speech 2026-27.
“I propose to extend time available for revising returns from 31st December to up to 31st March with the payment of a nominal fee. I also propose to stagger the timeline for filing of tax returns. Individuals with ITR 1 and ITR 2 returns will continue to file till 31st July and non-audit business cases or trusts are proposed to be allowed time till 31st August,” Sitharaman said.
TDS (Tax deducted at source) rules were clarified for manpower services, while a rule-based system for lower or nil TDS certificates is proposed. TCS rates were cut to 2% for overseas tour packages, education and medical expenses under liberalised remittance scheme (LRS). Litigation is targeted through integrated assessment and penalty orders, lower pre-deposit requirements, and wider immunity provisions.
TDS on the sale of immovable property by a non-resident will be deducted and deposited through resident buyer’s PAN (Permanent Account Number)-based challan instead of requiring TAN (Tax Deduction and Collection Account Number), Sitharaman said.
Customs Duty Tweaks
Customs duty rationalisation continued with a clear focus on domestic manufacturing, energy transition and ease of living. Exemptions have been extended or introduced for capital goods used in lithium-ion batteries, critical minerals processing, nuclear power projects and aircraft manufacturing.
Personal imports will become cheaper with a reduction in duty on goods for personal use from 20% to 10%. Seventeen cancer drugs and additional rare-disease treatments were exempted from customs duty. Process reforms aimed at trust-based, tech-driven clearances, faster cargo movement and lower compliance costs, especially for exporters and MSMEs (micro, small, medium and enterprises).
STT On F&O Hiked
The Budget increased securities transaction tax (STT) on futures trading from 0.02% to 0.05% and on options trading from 0.10% to 0.15%, a move that upset the capital markets with the BSE Sensex crashing more than 2,300 points from the day’s high and the NSE Nifty dropping to 24,571.75.
Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is a direct tax imposed on the buying and selling of securities in India.
Commenting on the Budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “The Union Budget reflects the aspirations of 140 crore Indians. It strengthens the reform journey and charts a clear roadmap for Viksit Bharat.”
February 01, 2026, 14:43 IST
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Shanghai (China): The Consulate General of India in Shanghai welcomed the resumption of Air India’s direct flight services between Shanghai and New Delhi, marking a major step forward in restoring people-to-people, business and institutional connectivity between India and China.
According to an official release, the inaugural Shanghai-New Delhi flight departed today from Shanghai Pudong International Airport, carrying over 230 passengers on board the Boeing 787 aircraft. The relaunch comes after a gap of nearly six years and represents a significant milestone in normalising bilateral air connectivity following the suspension of services in early 2020.
Speaking on the occasion, Consul General Pratik Mathur said, “The resumption of direct flights between Shanghai and New Delhi is a tangible expression of the renewed momentum in India-China engagement. Enhanced air connectivity is essential for facilitating trade, tourism, academic exchanges and people-to-people contacts, particularly between India and East China. We are pleased to see Air India restoring this important link.”
As per a release, Air India will operate the route four times a week using its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, featuring modernised cabins and enhanced onboard services. The restored service reflects the growing demand for travel between the two countries and the steady recovery of cross-border mobility. It will also support commercial, educational and cultural exchanges between India and the Yangtze River Delta region, one of China’s most economically dynamic clusters.
The Consulate General of India in Shanghai remains committed to supporting initiatives that strengthen connectivity and deepen cooperation across trade, investment, tourism, education and cultural exchange, the release stated.
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