Back in the summer of 2015, we debuted Target Open House as a first-of-its-kind connected products concept store to showcase smart home technology. Since then, the San Francisco space has been honored with over 20 awards from institutions like Fast Company and Core77. It’s also welcomed more than 150,000 people, from guests trying out experiences like connected nurseries, to noteworthy designers to tech CEO’s and the smart home entrepreneurial community (which has gathered at more than 25 of our events to exchange ideas). Being in San Francisco has allowed the team to more quickly discover IOT products and authentically engage with emerging startups in Silicon Valley.

Now, we’re taking a year and a half of feedback from those entrepreneurs and guests, and using it to inform a significant remodel project that begins today. Over the next two months, Open House will be closed for construction as our team builds out exciting new features and designs. It will reopen to the public on Friday, Feb. 10.

“We built Open House as an iterative space that is all about research and development around the connected consumer,” said Target’s vice president of consumer IoT, Gene Han. “We’ve measured guest traffic and sales and listened to what guests and entrepreneurs had to say about their experiences. And we’ve learned a lot about perceptions of connected home technologies. Now, with this feedback, we’ll renovate Open House in ways that will help better engage, educate and excite guests and the IOT community.”

So what’s coming in February? Take a peek at five of the most exciting new features and experiences being installed now:

1. A new space we’re calling “The Garage,” where companies can showcase or launch early-stage products on a retail shelf, get valuable quantitative and qualitative feedback on their products and have direct visibility to Target buyers. The space will preview 16 products that will rotate every month.
2. A personalized experience within the acrylic home installation that more effectively demonstrates the potential of various connected products for the user. Guests will be asked to answer a series of questions, which allow the house to show a personalized example of how connected products could fit into their lives.
3. A flexible, new event space to accommodate our popular and frequent gatherings. The refreshed space will be modular, allowing Open House to more easily transition from a store during the day to a community gathering spot in the evening.
4. An updated interactive space, including vertically mounted touchscreen monitors. In all, the new space will feature around 70 IOT products.
5. Enhanced feedback and analytics for partners, including the ability to do A/B testing, view product interactions and comparative engagement data, see event recaps and receive qualitative feedback from guests. 

If you have a connected living product or unique idea for an event at Open House, contact openhouse@target.com Stay tuned for more information when the space reopens in February.

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