Target says it will open 15 stores in 2015, mostly in cities, as it exits Canadian market

Target plans to open 15 stores this year with an emphasis on urban locations.

The company will open eight TargetExpress stores, six regular-format stores, and a CityTarget in Boston. Target had announced the openings of TargetExpress locations in San Francisco, San Diego, and St. Paul, Minnesota, and said Monday it will open two stores in the Washington, D.C., area and one in Chicago.

The company opened its first TargetExpress store in its home town of Minneapolis in July. The stores are smaller and carry merchandise tailored to cities where they are located.

Target said late last year that it would close 11 stores by the beginning of this month in smaller towns like Carrolton, Texas; Bay City, Illinois and Lithonia, Georgia. The company currently has 1,790 locations.

The company is shutting down all of its 133 Canadian locations after a disastrous attempted entry into the new market just two years ago, saying last month that it did not foresee a profit there until at least 2021. It is taking a related $5.4 billion fourth-quarter charge to do so.

Shares of Target Corp. lost 35 cents to $73.26 in afternoon trading.