Before 6 a.m. on July 31, nearly 1,000 people were lined up outside a grocery store on University Drive, according to the Shelby Report. The Little Elm High School marching band, drill team and cheer team played as the doors of the new Kroger Marketplace opened. Five days earlier and just down the road, a new Target had opened with much less ceremony.

Both stores have now been open for nearly three months, long enough for their place in the week to settle. They aren't duplicates of each other. The Target and the Kroger split a typical household errand list along different lines. Because they sit near each other on US 380, one trip to the north edge of town can now cover both lists.

Two Stores, Five Days, and a Mailing Address That Says Aubrey

Target opened on July 26, 2026, at 26550 E. University Drive. Target's corporate fact sheet lists the store under the heading "Little Elm," but the street address beneath it reads Aubrey, TX 76227. The store is about 148,000 square feet and was expected to employ around 200 people. It anchors Bates Towne Crossing, a shopping center at US 380 and Ryan Spiritas Parkway.

Kroger's opening followed on July 31 at 26587 E. University Drive, near FM 2931. Kroger's own store page calls it Little Elm Marketplace and gives a Little Elm address in the same 76227 ZIP code. The Shelby Report's opening coverage puts the same street number in Aubrey. The Dallas Business Journal put the investment at roughly $40 million and the payroll at about 200 jobs. It described the store as serving Little Elm, Aubrey and Providence Village.

That mismatch between the brand name and the mailing address is the most local detail of the summer. Both retailers chose to brand these stores as Little Elm's, and Little Elm's institutions turned out for the Kroger opening. At the private event on July 30, Little Elm Mayor Pro Tem Michel Hambrick spoke, along with Little Elm Economic Development Corporation Board President Neil Blais, store leader Sean Sampson and Rudy DiPietro, president of Kroger's Texas Division. The Ray E. Braswell High School Jazz Ensemble also performed, and Kroger donated to the school's music program.

Which Errands Each Store Now Covers

The overlap between the two stores is smaller than "a Target and a Kroger" suggests. Here is how the services listed by each company line up.

Every service in the table falls into one of three groups.

1. Listed only by Kroger: fuel, the Murray's Cheese counter, sushi and the cut-fruit station.
2. Listed only by Target: Starbucks, Apple at Target and Target Optical.
3. At both, handled differently: pharmacy, pickup and general merchandise.

The Overlap Is Where the Choice Gets Practical

Pharmacy is the clearest example. Target's pharmacy is a CVS inside the store, while Kroger's pharmacy has a drive-through window. If you're picking up a prescription with a car seat in the back, that difference can decide which parking lot you pull into.

Pickup works the same way. Target's fact sheet points out that the Drive Up lanes at this location sit on the side of the building rather than out front. Kroger lists grocery pickup, and its fuel center sits on the same property. A grocery order and a full tank fit in a single Kroger stop. Coffee, a phone accessory and a household restock fit in a single Target stop.

Hours shape the trip, too. Target's posted hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday through Saturday. Kroger's doors opened at 6 a.m. on opening day. Its regular hours are on the store page and are worth checking before an early start.

A First for Kroger, Shelved in Little Elm

The Little Elm Marketplace is the first Kroger to carry the company's Indian Experience concept, a dedicated selection of Indian products and flavors marked on the shelves with prominent signs. The Shelby Report described it as an extension of the Asian and Hispanic Experience concepts that Kroger has introduced in other North Texas stores.

In comments reported by the Shelby Report, DiPietro described the store's range this way:

"We've tailored this store to meet the unique needs of this community with access to thousands of new, local, healthy, organic and multicultural products."

The Indian Experience aisle and the Murray's Cheese counter put two specialty departments in one store. The 123,000-square-foot store also has full-service meat, seafood and floral departments.

The store's food rescue partner is Lovepacs, which received a Kroger donation as part of the company's Zero Hunger | Zero Waste plan.

The Corners That Are Still Plans

The two big stores are open, but the area around them is not finished. Plans announced back in 2024 point to more retail on the same stretch of US 380.

Bates Towne Crossing was announced in a November 2024 Business Wire release as a center of nearly 225,000 square feet, with Target as the anchor. At about 148,000 square feet, the Target accounts for most of that total. The same release said H-E-B owned the land directly west of the future Target but had not released a development timeline.

Across FM 2931, the Dallas Morning News reported in July 2024 that GBT planned a Sprouts-anchored center on about 10 acres at the northeast corner of US 380 and FM 2931. The paper described it as serving the Providence Village, Little Elm and Aubrey area. That 2024 report included no construction or opening schedule.

So far, the H-E-B land and the Sprouts corner are announcements, not dates on a calendar. For now, the Target and the Kroger are the two stores open on this stretch of US 380, and between them they cover fuel, prescriptions, coffee, devices, eyewear and groceries.

If you're weighing how new retail at this north edge of town affects a home you own or are considering nearby, Patton International Properties is happy to talk through what is open, what is still planned and how both fit your plans. Let's Connect.