Target Curbside Pickup Arrives in Chicago

It’s cold out, you have a sick kid, and another who will fall asleep the minute the car starts moving, and you need some staples – diapers, peanut butter, Tylenol. And it’d be nice to have a bit of chocolate in the house or some fuzzy socks to treat yourself. And a dvd to keep the kids happy. Unfortunately, these aren’t the kind of things available from a drive thru. What do you do? Drag the kids through the store?

Nope, just download the Curbside app.

Curbside is a new service offered by some Target stores in the Chicago area that allows you to place your order on their app and a couple hours later your items are ready to pick up and you don’t even have to get out of the car!

Don’t get me wrong – I love shopping at Target. I like browsing and spending some time (and money) walking around the store. However, there are times that it’s just not convenient. If my kids are sick (or I’m sick) and I don’t want to drag them around the store, or when I have limited time (or money) and I need to get things quick, or when I need things during a time when I know it’ll be busy and I don’t want to deal with crowds or checkout lines. Curbside is the perfect solution.

You can download the Curbside app for free and you don’t pay a markup on items or any fee for using the service.

The app is really easy to use. You choose your store (I visited the one in Warrenville, but you can also use the Curbside app for Lombard, Willowbrook, Oak Lawn, Tinley Park, and four locations inside Chicago) and then start shopping. You can get just about everything using Curbside from toys, to electronics, to groceries (although I noticed no refrigerated or frozen items). Here’s just an example of some of the things I found that we regularly need in our house:

I placed my order through the app while the kids were busy playing. It was quick and easy and I was able to get a variety of items – cookie mix, jelly, pajamas for Cooper, some Color Wonder toys to keep Campbell busy, and a small dvd player for our bedroom tv. I paid for my order on the app – with no fees or upcharges, of course – and received a confirmation of my order.

When I was ready to pick it up (my order said it would be ready within 2 hours, but they can hold it for a couple days) we drove to the Target and found the marked Curbside parking spots.

There was a small button on the app to notify the employees that I was there and pretty quickly an employee came out with my whole order in a nifty Curbside reusable bag. She made sure I checked that everything was there and then we were all set! SO much easier than shopping with a toddler. In fact, Campbell napped for the whole trip and I never had to wake him.

My only disappointment with the Curbside pickup is that it is not (yet) offered at the Target close to my northwest suburban house; I can only hope that they’ll offer it soon. In the meantime, I’ll definitely be using the service when I’m in the areas it’s offered and I’ve recommended it to my family in the south suburbs.

Thanks Target and Curbside! (And please come to the Crystal Lake Target soon!!)