Want some red furniture? Target is trying to offload furnishings as it exits City Center offices

On the hunt for office furniture — red chairs, red couches or perhaps cubicle dividers with a red stripe at the top? How about a red shopping cart?

All of the above can be found in an auction this week of items from Target's now-vacant City Center offices in downtown Minneapolis.

There are also plenty of more standard black and gray office chairs as well as white filing cabinets and tables in the mix.

"There's a lot of Steelcase — chairs, desks, cubicle divider panels," said Ben Grafe, director of logistics for Grafe Auction, which is handling this week's sale.

The auction this week includes hundreds of items from four of the upper floors that Target once used in City Center.

Target occupied 37 of the 50-plus floors of City Center, according to Target spokesman Brian Harper-Tibaldo. It vacated the building in May 2021. The downsizing cut about a third of its downtown Minneapolis office space.

It consolidated its downtown Minneapolis office space as its headquarters transitioned to hybrid work following the onset of the pandemic. Employees who worked there moved over to one of Target's other downtown Minneapolis towers along Nicollet Mall or to its Brooklyn Park offices while also working remotely.

While this week's auction features a lot of fairly typical stuff you would find in an office, there are also some interesting accent pieces such as egg chairs or couches with high sides.

"It varies from floor to floor," Grafe said. "They sprinkled in some different unique pieces throughout."

Grafe Auction has been auctioning off items in batches. It held the first auction from Target's City Center offices last July.

The auction this week is the fifth in the series. The items are all listed online, but the public can also come and view the items in person at the City Center from 3 to 6 p.m. on Thursday. The online auction will then close at 10 a.m. Friday.

After this auction is completed, Grafe said the company will be about halfway through the floors. He expects to do another four or five auctions in the months to come.

"We've had interest from schools, entrepreneurs opening up their own space, current businesses looking to update their office space," he said of the customers at previous sales. "Also, people who work from home who are looking to build out a home office."

And most of the stuff has found a new owner, saving it from ending up in a landfill.

"We've had good luck selling everything," said Grafe. "We've had a few pieces left, but we can rotate those in other sales."