Thousands of Target employees will return downtown next week for the retailer’s big annual meeting ahead of the holidays.

Target is calling its corporate workforce, including executives, and every store director to its headquarters Monday through Thursday, a company spokesperson confirmed for Downtown Voices. Target is also shutting down a block of Nicollet Mall outside the building for a company block party, with food trucks and games, according to a large block event permit.

Buses will be detoured off of Nicollet Mall as the block party takes place between 10th and 11th streets from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

For many years, Target was the largest employer in downtown Minneapolis, but the retailer lost the long-held position in 2023 as its local workforce dwindled early in the pandemic as a result of hybrid work trends. Hennepin Healthcare now holds the top spot with more than 7,200 downtown employees.

For more than a year, other big companies with offices downtown including U.S. Bank, Xcel Energy, and Ameriprise have required their employees to work in person two or three days a week, but Target only recently started enforcing a quarterly mandate. The policy, known as “core weeks,” brings Target employees to the company’s headquarters for one week per quarter.

"Target’s annual company meeting coincides with one of four core weeks for Target’s headquarters team during 2024," Target spokesperson Brian Harper-Tibaldo said in a statement. "While thousands of team members work from our Twin Cities offices each week, these core weeks provide additive time and space to collaborate and connect. It's one component of our hybrid work model that balances in-person and virtual work, providing the team with flexibility in how they collaborate." 

Target’s absence is palpable in downtown Minneapolis, particularly on the southern end of Nicollet Mall near the company’s headquarters. When the retailer’s “core weeks” policy went into effect in March, it brought a much-needed jolt of life.