TUPELO, Miss. (WTVA) — Target’s newest store in Tupelo is now open to the public after a Tuesday mix-up. Target originally scheduled a VIG (Very Important Guest) event on Tuesday afternoon in which it invited city leaders, employees and their families, as well as local media — an event closed to the general public.A corporate spokesperson told WTVA multiple times on Tuesday evening that Tuesday’s event was not supposed to be open to the general public and the store would officially open to the public on Sunday morning. However, miscommunication on social media led to an overwhelming response from the public. As a result, the store’s management decided to go ahead and open the store for the rest of the week — ahead of Sunday’s original grand opening. Target employees celebrate the opening of their new store in Tupelo, Mississippi.(WTVA)“Yeah, so we had, you know, obviously this VIG event,” store manager Leah Beauchamp said. “Tupelo came out in droves. We are super excited. This was supposed to be kind of like a soft opening, and we have, you know, our official opening on Sunday.”She continued, “So we’re going to continue with the soft opening, normal business hours, but the official opening on Sunday. But that’s where we’re at right now.”There are two ways to access the store: off North Gloster Street and a new access road off Barnes Crossing Road, down the road from Zaxbys.The new access road, Woodford Way, will have a ribbon-cutting on Friday morning, city spokesman Scott Costello confirmed.This would have made access to the store much easier in time for Sunday’s grand opening.Tuesday’s chaos forced Tupelo police to park one of its patrol vehicles on Woodford Way to prevent the public from bypassing the barricade.Tupelo police block the new access road off Barnes Crossing Road on Tuesday evening. Photo Date: Oct. 6, 2026.(WTVA)This is Tupelo’s first Target store and the seventh store in Mississippi. The 148,000-square-foot store features a Starbucks Cafe and a CVS Pharmacy.Open this link for store hours.Copyright 2026 WTVA. All rights reserved.