• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, December 7, 2009

In an effort to enhance its positioning as trendy, convenient and affordable, Target Corp. this week will launch three-day holiday pop-up stores in New York, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

The Target To-Go stores are also selling new fashions from Rodarte for Target, part of its limited-edition line that won't be available in its regular stores until Dec. 20, as well as 50 wallet-friendly gifts, including toys, gadgets, home décor, and beauty. The gifts, which consumers order by number, come wrapped.

To promote the stores, Target will pepper all three cities with 500 oversized gift tags the morning of Dec. 11, which can be redeemed at Target To-Go for gift cards worth anywhere from $10 to $500. (Each card also triggers a $100 donation to the Salvation Army.) Target plans to distribute $100 gift cards to needy families in each market, too, through the Salvation Army. (The company has pledged $2 million and says that from Dec. 6 through Dec. 12, it will donate 5% of the purchase price of its toys -- including those on sale in the pop-ups -- to the organization.)

"This holiday, we wanted to give our urban markets a little slice of Target," Shawn Gensch, VP/marketing, says in a release. "Target To-Go gives time-starved city dwellers a convenient and affordable holiday shopping experience."

Target has been using pop-ups, including its fashion-oriented Bullseye Bodegas, for several seasons.

Meanwhile, Target is also preparing for the storewide rollout of the Rodarte for Target line later this month. For the latest in its limited-edition partnerships, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte have created a line Target describes as "amazingly priced," and will include apparel, belts and legwear. The items will be on sale through the end of January.

Rodarte, best known for its red-carpet dresses, says the Target line takes "emotional inspiration" from the designers' favorite leading women, including, Faye Dunaway in "Bonnie & Clyde," Mia Farrow in "Rosemary's Baby" and Ruth Gordon in "Harold & Maude," with lace and tulle skirts and blouses, leopard and skeletal prints featured on jackets and shifts, and floral motifs, as well as lace and open-hole knee-highs and tights. Prices range from $9.99 to $79.99.

Target continues to struggle with declining sales. The company says its November same-store results fell 1.5%, slightly below its expectations. The company says online sales during the Black Friday weekend were quite strong, and that chainwide, toys, apparel, domestics, small appliances and beauty.