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Target Corporation Business Information, Profile, and History

1000 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55403-2467
U.S.A.

Company Perspectives:

Target Corporation is a growth company focused exclusively on general merchandise retailing. Our principal operating strategy is to provide exceptional value to American consumers through multiple retail formats ranging from upscale discount and moderate-priced to full-service department stores.

History of Target Corporation

Target Corporation is the fourth largest retailer in the United States, operating 1,556 stores in 47 states. Formerly Dayton Hudson Corporation, Target has three main retail divisions: Target Stores, Mervyn's, and Marshall Field's. Target Stores is the number two discount retailer in the country, trailing only Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., and has distinguished itself from its competitors by offering upscale, fashion-conscious products at affordable prices. The 1,225 Target stores, which are located in 47 states, generated 84 percent of Target's fiscal 2002 revenues. Included in this store count are Target Greatland units, which are much larger than the typical Target store, averaging 145,000 square feet versus 126,000 square feet; as well as SuperTarget outlets, which are combined discount/grocery stores, averaging 175,000 square feet. Generating 9 percent of 2002 revenues were Mervyn's 267 stores situated in 14 states, primarily in the West, Southwest, and Midwest (specifically Minnesota and Michigan). Based in the San Francisco Bay area, Mervyn's positions itself as a chain of moderately priced, family friendly, neighborhood department stores. Target Corporation's full-service department store division, contributor of 6 percent of sales, is now consolidated under the Marshall Field's banner. The 62 Marshall Field's stores (which include locations that formerly operated under the Dayton's and J.L. Hudson's names) are located in eight states in the upper Midwest, with the majority found within three metropolitan areas: Minneapolis, Chicago, and Detroit. Target Corporation's philanthropy has been and still is legendary. In 1989 the corporation received the America's Corporate Conscience Award for its magnanimity, and Target contributes more than $2 million each week to the communities in which its stores are located.

Early Years

Target Corporation bears the strong imprint of its founder, George Draper Dayton. Dayton's father, a physician in New York state, could not afford to send him to college, in part because the doctor freely gave his services to the poor. Hence Dayton set off on his own in 1873 at age 16 to work in a coal and lumberyard. A workaholic, he undermined his health and a year later had to return to the family home to recuperate. Undeterred, he went on to become a banker. Less than ten years later, in 1883, he was rich enough to buy the Bank of Worthington in Minnesota. Meanwhile he had married and had become active in the Presbyterian Church.

Dayton's connection with the Presbyterian Church proved to be instrumental to the rise of his Dayton Company. In 1893, the year of a recession that sent local real estate prices tumbling, the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis burned down. The insurance did not cover the cost of a new building, and the only other source of income, a corner lot next to the demolished church, was unsalable because the real estate market was doing poorly. The congregation prevailed on the Dayton family, who were faithful members of the church, to purchase it so the building of a new church could proceed. Dayton bought it and eventually erected a six-story building on the lot. Casting about for tenants, he decided to buy the nearby Goodfellow Dry Goods store and set it up in the new building. In the spring of 1902 the store was known as the Goodfellow Dry Goods store; in 1903 the corporate name was changed to Dayton Dry Goods Company, then seven years later simply Dayton Company, the forerunner of Dayton Hudson Corporation and, ultimately, Target Corporation.

Eventually the store would expand to fill the six-story edifice. Dayton, with no previous experience in the retail trade, wielded tight control of the company until his death in 1938. His principles of thrift and sobriety and his connections as a banker enabled the company to grow. As long as he was at the helm, the store was run as a family enterprise. Every Christmas Eve he would hand out candy to each employee of the store. Obsessed with punctuality, he was known to lock the doors at the onset of a meeting, forcing latecomers to wait and apologize to him in person afterwards. The store was run on strict Presbyterian guidelines: no liquor was sold, the store was closed on Sunday, no business travel or advertising was permitted on the Sabbath, and Dayton Company refused to advertise in a newspaper that sponsored liquor ads.

This approach did not stifle business; Dayton Company became extremely successful. A multimillion-dollar business by the 1920s, Dayton Company decided it was ready to expand, purchasing J.B. Hudson & Son, a Minneapolis-based jeweler, in 1929, just two months before the historic stock market crash.

Dayton Company managed to weather the Great Depression, although its jewelry company operated in the red for its duration. Dayton's son David had died in 1923 at age 43, and George turned more and more of the company business over to another son, Nelson. George Draper Dayton died in 1938. He left only a modest personal fortune, having given away millions of dollars to charity. In 1918 the Dayton Foundation had been established with $1 million.

Nelson Dayton took over the presidency of Dayton Company in 1938, when it was already a $14 million business, and saw it grow to a $50 million enterprise. World War II did not hamper business; rather, Dayton's turned the war into an asset. Consumer goods were so scarce that it was no longer necessary to persuade shoppers to buy what merchandise was available. Sales volume increased dramatically thanks to Dayton's managers, who obtained goods to keep the store full. Nelson Dayton was scrupulous about complying with the government's wartime control of business and when, for instance, the government carried out its drive for scrap metal, he ordered the store's electric sign dismantled and added to the scrap heap. Until Nelson Dayton's death in 1950, the company was run along the strict moral lines of his father, its founder. In January 1944 Dayton's became one of the first stores in the nation to offer its workers a retirement policy, followed in 1950 by a comprehensive insurance policy.

Shedding Conservative Image, Launching Target: 1950s-60s

With Nelson Dayton's death in 1950, Dayton Company embarked on a new era. Instead of one-man rule, the company was led by a team of five Dayton cousins, although one of them, Nelson's son Donald Dayton, assumed the title of president. The prohibition of liquor in the store's dining rooms was dropped, and soon Dayton Company would be completely secularized, advertising and doing business on Sunday.

The new management of Dayton Company undertook radical and costly innovations. In 1954 the J.L. Hudson Company, which would eventually merge with Dayton's, opened the world's largest shopping mall in suburban Detroit. It was a great success, and two years later Dayton Company decided to build a mall on a 500-acre plot of land outside of Minneapolis. Horrified to learn that Minneapolis had only 113 good shopping days a year, the architect decided to build a mall under cover; Southdale, the first fully enclosed shopping mall in history, was the result, with Dayton's as one of its anchor stores.

The safe, conservative management style favored by George Draper Dayton and his son Nelson passed into history; a younger, more aggressive management pushed for radical expansion and innovation would follow in its wake. The company established the discount chain Target in 1962, opening the first unit in Roseville, Minnesota, and in 1966 decided to enter the highly competitive market of retail bookselling, opening B. Dalton Bookstores.

In 1967 the company changed its name to Dayton Corporation and made its first public stock offering. That year, it also acquired San Francisco's Shreve and Company, which merged with J.B. Hudson to form Dayton Jewelers. In 1968 it bought the Pickwick Book Shops in Los Angeles and merged them with B. Dalton. Also in 1968 the company acquired department stores in Oregon and Arizona. The following year brought the acquisition of J.E. Caldwell, a Philadelphia-based chain of jewelry stores, and Lechmere, a Boston retailer.

Acquiring Hudson's, Mervyn's, and Marshall Field's: 1969-90

The year 1969 also saw a major acquisition: the Detroit-based J.L. Hudson Company, a department store chain that had been in existence since 1881. The merger resulted in Dayton Hudson Corporation, the 14th largest retailer in the United States. Dayton Hudson stock was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

With the merger, the Dayton Foundation changed its name to the Dayton Hudson Foundation. Since 1946, 5 percent of Dayton Company's taxable income was donated to the foundation, which continued to be the case after the merger. The foundation inspired the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce in 1976 to establish the Minneapolis 5% Club, which eventually included 23 companies, each donating 5 percent of their respective taxable incomes to charities. By the close of 1996 the foundation had donated over $352 million to social and arts-based programs.

Dayton Hudson bought two more jewelers in 1970--C.D. Peacock, Inc., of Chicago, and J. Jessop and Sons of San Diego. Company revenues surpassed $1 billion in 1971.

California-based Mervyn's, a line of moderate-price department stores, merged with Dayton Hudson in 1978. That year Dayton Hudson became the seventh largest general merchandise retailer in the United States, its revenues by 1979 topping $3 billion. Also in 1979 the Target chain become Dayton Hudson's largest producer of revenue, eclipsing the department stores upon which the firm was founded.

Dayton Hudson bought Ayr-Way, an Indianapolis-based chain of 50 discount stores, in 1980, and converted those units to Target stores. In 1982 the company sold Dayton Hudson Jewelers to Henry Birks & Sons Ltd. of Montreal, and in 1986 it sold B. Dalton to Barnes & Noble, Inc. In 1984, meantime, the operations of the company's two full-service department stores were combined into a new unit called the Dayton Hudson Department Store Company, though the Dayton's and Hudson's units themselves retained their separate identities. Revenues topped the $10 billion mark in 1987.

The late 1980s found the company the focus of an unsolicited takeover bid by the Dart Group, which would involve lawsuits by both parties before a stock market crash in October 1987 ended the takeover attempt. A second attempt at takeover of the company would be made nine years later, when rival J.C. Penney Company, Inc. offered more than $6.5 billion for the retailer. The offer, which analysts considered an undervaluation of the company's worth, was rebuffed. Meanwhile, Dayton Hudson continued its acquisitions, purchasing Marshall Field & Company from BATUS Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of B.A.T. Industries PLC, in 1990 for about $1 billion. Venerable Marshall Field's was as much a landmark in the Chicago area as Dayton's was in Minneapolis and the Hudson's stores were in Detroit; the acquisition added 24 department stores to Dayton Hudson's Department Store division while also doubling its department store retail space.

Launching Target Greatland, SuperTargets, and the Target Guest Card: 1990-95

While the Dayton's, Hudson's, and Marshall Field's department stores offered the monied customer more costly and sophisticated merchandise, the popular Target and Mervyn's catered to the budget-conscious customer, offering apparel and recreational items on a self-service basis. With the approach of the 21st century, Target continued to be Dayton Hudson Corporation's biggest moneymaker, combining a successful business mix of clean, easy-to-navigate stores with quality, trend-responsive merchandise. The year 1990 saw the opening of the first of over 50 expanded Target Greatland stores; in 1995, following the lead of such rivals as Wal-Mart and Kmart, the company opened its first SuperTarget, which combined the chain's successful general merchandise mix with a grocery store. Along with expanding its traditional department stores along the East Coast, six new SuperTargets were planned for 1996 alone. Also introduced in 1995 was the Target Guest Card, the first store credit card in the discount retail industry. By 1998 the Guest Card had attracted nine million accounts.

The proliferation of shopping malls and the recessionary economy of the early 1990s caused sharp changes in consumer spending patterns throughout the United States. By 1996 the country could boast 4.97 billion square feet of retail space--an average of 19 square feet per person nationwide--but retailers felt the pinch caused by such a large number of stores courting increasingly spending-shy consumers. This situation most negatively affected the mid-range and upper-range sales volumes generated by stores on the level of Mervyn's, Dayton's, Marshall Field's, and Hudson's. In response, Dayton Hudson developed new merchandising, customer service, and advertising strategies in an effort to stabilize these units' falling sales volumes. Mervyn's focused greater reliance upon national brands, coupling this with the growing use of print advertising and market expansion through the acquisition of six Jordan Marsh stores and five Lord & Taylor stores in south Florida. Dayton's, Hudson's, and Marshall Field's courted the upscale consumer through an increased mix of unique, quality merchandise, an increased emphasis on customer service, and an increased sales-floor staff, all of which heralded a return to the "old-fashioned service" on which Dayton Hudson was founded. Meanwhile, the Department Store unit worked to reduce inventories and invest in remodeling and technologically enhancing some of its older stores.

Reaching New Heights Under Ulrich: Late 1990s and Beyond

In 1994 Target executive Robert J. Ulrich was named chairman and CEO of Dayton Hudson. In that same year the company began a new strategy: developing a "boundaryless" corporate structure wherein resources and marketing and management expertise could be shared by each of the three divisions to create a more efficient organization. In 1996 Ulrich launched a three-year program to cut $200 million in annual operating expenses, particularly at the underperforming Mervyn's and department store units.

By early 1997 the Dayton Hudson Corporation consisted of three major autonomously run operating units: Target, with 735 discount stores in 38 states, represented the company's primary area of growth; the moderately priced Mervyn's chain operated 300 stores in 16 states, and the upscale Department Store Company operated 22 Hudson's, 19 Dayton's, and 26 Marshall Field's stores. Such broad-based expansion from the first six-story building in which Dayton was housed no doubt would have stunned the company's founder. Capital expansion, as well as more varied retailing, had taken their place alongside the old policies of thrift and sobriety.

During 1997, as part of its drive to turn around the Mervyn's chain, Dayton Hudson sold off or closed 35 Mervyn's outlets, including all of that chain's stores in Florida and Georgia. The late 1990s also saw a retrenchment on the department store front, as Dayton Hudson sold its Marshall Field's stores in Texas and also closed its Marshall Field's store in downtown Milwaukee.

Dayton Hudson also continued its efforts to give back to the communities that it served. During 1997 the corporation and its retail divisions made grants of approximately $39 million, including $2.8 million in scholarships that were given to high school seniors who had been involved in their communities. That year, the Target chain launched its Take Charge of Education program, which quickly became one of the corporation's most popular community support efforts. The program allowed Target Guest Card holders to sign up the school of their choice to receive 1 percent of their Guest Card purchase amounts. Within two years, more than 300,000 schools were registered and more than $800,000 had been given to these schools.

Ulrich's cost-cutting efforts, the trimming of Mervyn's and Marshall Field's, and--most importantly--the juggernaut that Target had grown into combined to bring unprecedented levels of profitability to Dayton Hudson by the end of the 1990s. While revenues increased to $33.7 billion by fiscal 1999, net income passed the $1 billion mark for the first time, reaching $1.14 billion, translating into a profit margin of 3.4 percent. This represented a near tripling of the 1996 profits of $463 million and a near doubling of the profit margin that year, 1.8 percent. These results were driven primarily by the Target chain, which had become one of the hottest commodities in retailing. Ulrich had concentrated on making Target a hip chain featuring stylish products at bargain prices. For example, in early 1999 the chain began selling top-end Calphalon cookware and also launched a line of stylish small appliances and household goods designed by architect Michael Graves--the latter line becoming so popular that it quickly grew to include more than 500 items. Through such innovations Ulrich succeeded in clearly setting Target apart from its discount competitors--even leading some customers/fans to use a fancy French pronunciation of the chain's name: Tar-zhay. Meantime, the chain continued to grow at the rate of about 70 stores per year, expanding into the key urban areas of Chicago and New York City, as well as making a more widespread push into the Northeast. As a result, the 900-strong Target chain was generating more than three-quarters of Dayton Hudson's revenues by decade's end, compared to around half ten years earlier. The growing predominance of the discount chain led the corporation to rename itself Target Corporation in January 2000.

During this same period the corporation quietly developed an e-commerce strategy that involved managing its own online distribution. It bought Rivertown Trading Company, a Twin Cities-based mail-order firm, in 1998 for $120 million to handle fulfillment, marketing, and distribution services for the e-commerce efforts of all the corporation's retail units. Online retailing gained a larger profile in early 2000 with the formation of a separate e-commerce unit called Target Direct. New store brand web sites were launched later that year.

The Internet push also played a role in more name changes. In January 2001 the corporation announced that it would change the names of its Dayton's and Hudson's department stores to Marshall Field's. Target was planning to launch an online gift registry during 2001 and wanted to do so under a unified department store name. Marshall Field's was chosen for several reasons: it was the most widely known of the three names, its base of Chicago was bigger than both Minneapolis and Detroit and was a major travel hub, and it was the largest chain, with 24 stores, compared to 19 Dayton's and 21 Hudson's.

At Target Stores (the official name of the discount division), meantime, use of the Target Guest Card began to plateau as consumers gravitated more to third-party Visa and MasterCard cards, cutting their use of private-label cards. Testing began on a Target Visa card in the fall of 2000, and by early 2003 nearly six million Guest Card accounts had been converted to the new Visa card. The Target chain itself kept expanding in the early 2000s, adding 62 discount stores to the total as well as 32 new SuperTarget stores during fiscal 2002, bringing the overall total to nearly 1,150 and the SuperTarget count to around 100. By this time, the Target Stores division was generating 84 percent of the parent company's revenues. Profits reached $1.65 billion, despite the continuing struggles of the Mervyn's and Marshall Field's divisions, where earnings were on the decline. Rumors continued to swirl about the possible divestment of one or both of these divisions, neither one of which was adding to its store count (Marshall Field's in fact sold its two stores in Columbus, Ohio, in 2003). Ulrich consistently denied such rumors, however, and thus far the stellar success of the Target Stores division had more than made up for the disappointing performance of Target Corporation's other retail units.

Principal Subsidiaries: The Associated Merchandising Corporation; Dayton's Commercial Interiors, Inc.

Principal Divisions: Target Stores; Mervyn's; Marshall Field's; Target Financial Services; target.direct.

Principal Competitors: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.; Kmart Corporation; J.C. Penney Corporation, Inc.; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Federated Department Stores, Inc.; The May Department Stores Company; The TJX Companies, Inc.; Kohl's Corporation; Dillard's, Inc.; Nordstrom, Inc.; Saks Incorporated; Ross Stores, Inc.

Related information about Target Corporation

Pay Less. |
foundation = 1962 (Minneapolis, MN) |
location = Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA |
key_people = Robert J. "Bob" Ulrich, CEO & Chairman |
industry = Retail |
num_employees = 338,000 |
products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, home decor, housewares, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, sporting goods, and pet products.|
homepage = www.target.com (Online store)
www.targetcorp.com (Corporate) |
revenue = profit$52.620 billion USD (2005) Press Release |
}}

Target Corporation was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1962. It is the sixth-largest retailer in the United States behind and is also the third-largest seller of music in the United States.Top 10 Music Retailers in the United States.

History

The company's roots were founded when George Dayton founded the Dayton's department store chain. ISBN 0-471-25067-8. In 1903, the store changed its name to the Dayton Dry Goods Company, and it changed its name again to the Dayton Company in 1910. In 1956, the Dayton Company opened Southdale, the world's first fully-enclosed two-level shopping center in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis.Dayton's and Southdale Stores, published in 1956 The Dayton Company also became a retail chain by opening its second Dayton's store in Southdale.

In 1962, the Dayton Company entered discount merchandising by opening its first official Target discount store in Roseville, Minnesota, a suburb north of Saint Paul. In 1969, it acquired the Lechmere electronics and appliances chain that operated in New England.Lechmere, Inc. Hudson company that year, to become the Dayton-Hudson Corporation consisting of Target and five major department store chains.News article detailing discount chain's growth from 1962 to 1990 Some of the other department stores owned and operated by Dayton-Hudson included Lipmans of Portland, Oregon (1950s-1980; Brown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

In 1978, the company acquired Mervyn's and became the 7th largest retailer in the United States. In 1980, it acquired the , eight Lechmere executives, and two local shopping mall executives.

In 1990, it acquired Marshall Field's. In 1992, it created a short-lived chain of apparel specialty stores called Everyday Hero with two stores in Minneapolis. They attempted to compete against other apparel specialty stores such as GAP by offering private label apparel such as its Merona brand, and in 1997 both of these stores closed.Target closes Everyday Hero in Mall of America In 1998, it acquired Greenspring Company's multi-catalog direct marketing unit, the Rivertown Trading Company, from Minnesota Communications Group.News article detailing Dayton Hudson Corporation acquiring Rivertown Trading Company In 1999, it acquired Fedco and its ten stores in a move to expand its SuperTarget operation into Southern California. It reopened six of these stores under the Target brand and sold the other four locations to brand.News article detailing Target's expansion into New England and launch of its e-commerce site

In January 2000, Dayton Hudson Corporation changed its name to Target Corporation and its ticker symbol to TGT; by then, between 75 percent and 80 percent of the corporation's total sales and earnings came from the Target division while the other four divisions, Dayton's, Hudson's, Marshall Field's, and Mervyn's were used to fuel the growth of the discount chain. It also separated its e-commerce operations from its retailing division, and combined it with its Rivertown Trading unit into a stand-alone subsidiary called target.direct.News article detailing Dayton Hudson Corporatoin renaming to Target Corporation In 2001, it announced that its Dayton's and Hudson's stores would operate under the Marshall Field's brand. On March 10, 2004, Target Corporation announced it had hired Goldman Sachs Group to analyze options for selling its Marshall Field's and Mervyn's chains of department stores. Three months later, on June 9, 2004, Target Corporation announced its sale of the Marshall Field's chain and several Mervyn's stores to St. Louis, Missouri-based May Department Stores Company, which became effective July 31, 2004. On July 21, 2004, it announced the sale of Mervyn's to an investment consortium including Sun Capital Partners, Inc., Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., Lubert-Adler/ Klaff and Partners, L.P., which was finalized September 2. In 2005, Federated Department Stores acquired May Department Stores and announced that by Fall of 2006, it will eliminate the Marshall Field's name in favor of the Macy's nameplate. The company owns several other subsidiaries, which include:

  • Target Financial Services (TFS): issues Target's credit cards, known as the Target REDcard, consisting of the Target VISA and the Target Card (formerly the Target Guest Card), issued through Target National Bank (formerly Retailers National Bank). This subsidiary has six showrooms in Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, including a first-of-its-kind retail concept store and showroom in Bloomington, Minnesota that opened on June 23, 2005.
  • Target Brands: owns and oversees the company's private label products, including the grocery brands Archer Farms and Market Pantry, Sutton & Dodge, their premium meat line, and the electronics brand Trutech. In addition, Bullseye Dog is a trademark, and the Bullseye Design and 'Target' are registered trademarks of Target Brands.
  • target.direct: owns and oversees the company's e-commerce initiatives, such as the Target.com domain. Founded in early 2000, target.direct was founded by separating the company's existing e-commerce operations from its retailing division, and combining it with its Rivertown Trading direct marketing unit into a stand-alone subsidiary. In 2002, target.direct and Amazon.com's subsidiary Amazon Enterprise Solutions created a partnership where Amazon.com would provide order fulfillment and guest services for Target.com in exchange for fixed and variable fees. This electronic commerce relationship between target.direct and Amazon Enterprise Solutions will last until August 2010.News Article detailing partnership between Target and Amazon.comNews Article detailing extended partnership between target.direct and Amazon Enterprise Solutions

Retailing operations

Target Corporation's discount retail chain in the United States has 1,447 stores in all states except for Alaska, Vermont, and Hawaii that operate under the mastheads of Target, Target Greatland, and SuperTarget. Dayton and John Geisse, and the first Target store opened on May 1, 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. That store was closed and demolished on January 8, 2005 to make room for a SuperTarget. Target Corporation has aggressive plans to have 2,010 stores open by the year 2010.Target Corporation Facts as of August 3, 2006 - in .pdf formatTarget plans expansion to Hawaii

Target

Target is a chain of discount department stores that are about 95,000 to 135,000 square feet (12,000 m族) and carry hardlines ("regular" products and goods), softlines (clothing), and a limited amount of groceries, usually non-perishable. These generally include a Starbucks Coffee shop, a Pizza Hut Express, and a Taco Bell Express in addition to Target's Food Avenue. It has also been reported that Cold Stone Creamery and Target have signed a deal to test in-store ice cream shops in four stores.Cold Stone Creamery to Open Test Stores in Target

The first few Target stores included leased supermarkets in addition to general merchandise, which during the time was a common practice by discount retailers as they attempted to offer a one-stop shopping experience to customers. In 1969, Target opened its first store consisting of only general merchandise.

In the past, the one-hour photo processing labs were not owned by Target, but by Qualex, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak and were staffed by employees of Qualex, not Target. However, in June 2005, Target spokeswoman Brie Heath announced that Target Corporation will replace the Qualex photo labs with their own labs running Kodak equipment, and will staff them with Target employees. Unlike the previous Qualex labs, all photo processing is done "in house", including next-day, digital, and Kodak Perfect Touch processing, although a few labs have been replaced with "send-out" only service with a self-service Kodak Picture Maker kiosk. However, they do not have a full-line of groceries like meat, dairy, and produce. The snack bar may include a Pizza Hut Express, Taco Bell Express, and/or a Starbucks. The construction of new Target Greatland stores is being phased out in favor of building SuperTargets.

The first Target Greatland opened in Apple Valley, Minnesota in 1990, and has since been remodeled and expanded, becoming a SuperTarget. They carry everything a Target or a Target Greatland does in addition to a grocery store (including meat, bakery, deli, frozen foods, dairy, produce and seafood). Many SuperTargets may also feature a Starbucks Coffee shop, a Pizza Hut Express, a Taco Bell Express, a pharmacy, a portrait studio, a one-hour photo processing lab, an optical store, or a Wells Fargo Bank. Unlike many other hypermarkets in the United States (such as Wal-Mart Supercenters and Meijer), SuperTargets are not continuously open.

In the past, some SuperTargets featured an E*TRADE trading station instead of a Wells Fargo Bank. E*TRADE also sent a letter of notification to their customers informing them about this change.

The first SuperTarget opened in Omaha, Nebraska in 1995, and the second SuperTarget opened in Lawrence, Kansas later that same year.Target Corp. Timeline - in .pdf format Currently, Target operates 162 SuperTarget stores in 21 U.S. states.

Urban stores

While many Target stores share a fairly common . Details on the urban Target store in Brooklyn, New York City, New York

The average urban multi-level Target location is of a fairly simple architecture such as the location in Abington, Pennsylvania (pictured), they may also be attached to a mall such as the location in Springfield in Fairfax County, Virginia (see photo). Where required by law, local custom, or decided by the company to drive visibility and sales, they may have elaborate architecture such as the aforementioned Nicollet Mall location or the Gateway Center in West Hollywood, California. A multi level Target store is also being considered for Downtown Plaza in Sacramento, California as part of that shopping center's revitalization effort.Details on the urban Target store in West Hollywood, California

These unique multi-level locations may feature many oddities that set it apart from a standard Target location. Transferring between levels in the store with shopping carts is accomplished via elevators and a specialized escalator, called a Vermaport.

This concept has also been used to convert Target stores from former Montgomery Ward and Younkers stores.On the Bull?s Eye: One vacant store is another?s ?Target? Article detailing vacant Montgomery Ward store being replaced by an urban Target store in Mall 205, Portland, Oregon

Distribution centers

Target Corporation currently operates 25 distribution centers across the United States. Target opened two new distribution centers in 2006 (Rialto, CA and Dekalb, IL) to support the growth of its stores. For example, the produce carried in SuperTargets comes from Supervalu distribution centers.

The retail chain's first distribution center opened in Fridley, Minnesota in 1969. During this time, the chain consisted of seventeen stores after having expanded into Oklahoma and Texas.

On August 9, 2004, Target announced to their suppliers that they were going to perform a trial on the effects of radio frequency identification on the efficiency of supply chain management in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Here, RFID tags would be placed on the bar codes of pallets and cartons to track the goods from the suppliers to the distribution center, and from the distribution center to the stores.News Article detailing Target's use of RFID

Differentiation

Target Corporation competes directly against other discount retailers, mainly Wal-Mart and Kmart. Dayton, who founded the retail chain with John Geisse, explained that "We will offer high-quality merchandise at low margins, because we are cutting expenses. Currently, the median Target shopper is 41 years old, which is the youngest of all major discount retailers that Target competes directly against. About eighty percent have attended college and 43 percent have completed college.

Target refers to itself as a "discount department store" instead of just a discount store.(cn) Target stores do not play ambient music, commonly known as elevator music and often distributed by Muzak. One side effect of Target's store designs is that it may cost Target more to build its stores than its competitors.

Many of Target's biggest fans jokingly refer to a Target store as "Tar-zhay" or Targ辿 (Tar-j辿) (IPA: ), as though it were a French word, a reference to its more upscale image compared to its competitors. It derived this practice in 1989 from The Walt Disney Company.

Target stores do not sell firearms. They do not sell tobacco products and have not sold cigarettes since 1996.Target Corporation Responsibility Report - January 31, 2006 Unlike Wal-Mart, they sell "explicit" CDs and "racy" magazines such as Maxim and FHM.

Target has many exclusive deals with various designers, including Isaac Mizrahi, Michael Graves, Mossimo Giannulli, Fiorucci, Liz Lange, and Luella Bartley, among others. Target, after hiring architect Michael Graves to design the scaffolding used to renovate the Washington Monument and contributing $6 million USD to the restoration plan, introduced its first designer line of products in 1999, the Michael Graves Collection of housewares and home decor products.News article detailing Target's Michael Graves Collection Wal-Mart and Kmart have followed Target's lead by signing exclusive designers to their stores as well. Another example of this is Target having an exclusive deal with Food Network for selling DVDs of TV shows featuring popular chefs such as Rachael Ray, Alton Brown, and Paula Deen. In July 2006, Target started selling exclusive two-tone pink edition Apple iPods. In 2002, Nintendo produced a red special edition variant of the Game Boy Advance, which featured the Target logo below the screen.

GiftCards

The Target GiftCard is the retailing division's stored-value card or gift card. Past and current designs include "scratch and sniff" (such as peppermint during the Christmas season), glow in the dark, LED light-up, a gift card on the side of a bubble blower, a gift card that can function as a CD-ROM, and even a giftcard that allows the sender to record a voice message.

ClearRx

In 2005, Target introduced a major revision of prescription bottles, which it calls the ClearRx system. In fact, it is written in Target Corporation's corporate by-laws that it must give 5% of its pre-tax profits to charity.

Further evidence of Target's philanthropy can be found in Memphis, Tennessee's Target House complex, a long-term housing solution for families of patients at the city's St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Exemptions to this policy were previously made for the Salvation Army to station its traditional red kettles and bell-ringers outside Target stores during the Christmas season. however, this has failed as Target's financials over the last year have been setting company records and Target's same-store sales have been outperforming Wal-Mart. For example, Target donates annually to the United Way (the Salvation Army is a member of the United Way coalition).

On November 14, 2005, Target Corporation and the Salvation Army announced Salvation Army announces partnership with Target Corporation a partnership called "The Target/Salvation Army Wish List," where online shoppers could donate goods to the organization by buying them directly from Target.com Target.com's Salvation Army donation page. Note: Viewable between November 25, 2005 and January 25, 2006 between November 25, 2005 and January 25, 2006. Target provided monetary and product donations during the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S.) to the American Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Target Forensic Services

In 2006, The Washington Post revealed that Target is operating two sophisticated criminal forensics laboratories, one at their headquarters, the other in Las Vegas, NV.Business Perspective On Law Enforcement Partnerships, Page 15, Tony Heredia (pdf) Originally, the lab was created as an internal need for the company to investigate instances of theft and fraud and other criminal actions that occurred on its own properties. Target's Forensic Services has assisted agencies at all levels of government, including Federal agencies such as the Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The labs have become such a popular resource for law enforcement that Target has had to restrict the cases it assists in to only violent felonies.Retailer Target Branches Out into Police Work CNN Blog on Target's Crime Lab

The lab is reported to be sophisticated, and in one case, Target was able to successfully repair a surveillance tape that not even NASA could view.

Criticism

Like many other large businesses and corporations, Target Corporation faces criticism. Practices that some might deem as questionable include: low hourly wages (lack of a so-called living wage), opposition to labor unions, and its contribution to urban sprawl.CNN/Money: Can't touch "Teflon" Target Liza Featherstone, author of Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers' Rights at Wal-Mart, stated in an interview, "Aesthetically, we all like Target better, but their wages are in many places low or just as low, and they all represent the Wal-Martization of our economy, which is the exchange of low prices for poor work conditions." Interview with Liza Featherstone

In 2002, the company came under criticism for carrying clothing with the number "88" embroidered on the clothing, which is known to be a white supremacist symbol. Only after the Southern Poverty Law Center and the media got involved, did Target pull the merchandise from its stores.News Article detailing "88" controversy

A 26-year-old Missouri woman was refused emergency contraception when she handed her prescription to a pharmacist at a Target store in Fenton, Missouri, on September 30, 2005. fact Target holds a conscience clause that allows employees to refuse to dispense emergency contraceptives based on religious beliefs; fact Some defending Target would applaud the company for upholding the employee's freedom of conscience, while others feel this policy fails to uphold the pharmacist's duty of care.

Target has recently come under fire for firing 39-year-old pharmacist Heather Williams, who based on her religious beliefs could not in good conscience refer a customer to one of the other Target Stores that would dispense the Emergency Contraceptives as stated in their conscience clause.News article detailing former Target pharmacist being fired after refusing to dispense abortion pillNews article detailing the Missouri House of Representative's proposed Health Care Rights of Conscience Act

In November 2005, with the unveiling of their 2005 holiday advertising campaign, it became apparent that Target was using the word 'holiday' instead of 'Christmas' in their promotions when referring to Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, and other items and traditions related to the Christmas holiday"Merry Christmas Target" - Snopes.com.

In late November, the American Family Association, a Mississippi窶澱ased Christian company, publicly stated that they believed Christians and all other celebrants of the Christmas holiday should be offended by Target's marketing decisions. The brand in Australia is owned by Coles Myer, which holds the rights from Target Corporation to use the Target name in Australia. Human Rights Campaign Target page In addition, Target Corporation was named one of the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" in 2004 by Working Mother magazine.

Despite Target's stated commitment to diversity, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has repeatedly given Target failing grades on its annual Economic Reciprocity Initiative report card, a measure of the company's "commitment to the African-American citizenry". In 2003 and 2005, the NAACP has rated Target an "F" on this report; News article detailing 2006 NAACP report card results

Major sponsorships

Target owns the naming rights to the Target Center in Minneapolis. It also sponsors the NASCAR and IndyCar racing teams of Chip Ganassi Racing. In the 2005 NASCAR season, the #41 Chip Ganassi Target car was driven by Casey Mears; for the 2006 season, rookie Reed Sorensen took over the #41 when Mears moved to a different Chip Ganassi car on the same team.

Target Corporation is also a major sponsor of the annual Minneapolis Aquatennial. It hosts the Target Fireworks Show, which is the largest annual fireworks show west of the Mississippi River, and the fourth largest annual fireworks show in the United States.

Target also sponsors the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, New York. In its hometown of Minneapolis, Target sponsors the Target Free Thursday Nights at the Walker Art Center, where admission is free after 4 p.m.

Trivia

  • Some Target stores have a bullseye painted on the roof as can be seen by using a program such as Google Earth or Microsoft Live Local.
  • The film Career Opportunities prominently features a Target store. A Target janitor Frank Whaley is locked overnight in the store with a shoplifter played by Jennifer Connelly.

Chronology

  • Key Dates:
  • 1902: George Draper Dayton opens the Goodfellow Dry Goods store in a six-story building in downtown Minneapolis.
  • 1903: Corporate name is changed to Dayton Dry Goods Company.
  • 1910: Name is shortened to Dayton Company.
  • 1938: Dayton dies; his son Nelson takes over the $14 million business.
  • 1956: Company builds the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall, called Southdale, located in suburban Minneapolis.
  • 1962: The discount Target chain is launched.
  • 1967: Company changes its name to Dayton Corporation and makes its first public stock offering.
  • 1969: Dayton merges with the Detroit-based J.L. Hudson Company department store chain, forming Dayton Hudson Corporation.
  • 1978: Dayton Hudson acquires the California-based Mervyn's chain of moderate-priced department stores.
  • 1979: The Target chain becomes Dayton Hudson's largest producer of revenue.
  • 1990: Marshall Field & Company, a Chicago-based department store operator, is acquired.
  • 1995: The first SuperTarget combined discount/grocery store opens; the Target Guest Card, the first store credit card in the discount retail industry, makes its debut.
  • 1998: As part of e-commerce push, Rivertown Trading Company, a Twin Cities-based mail-order firm, is acquired.
  • 2000: Reflecting the increasing importance of its discount chain, Dayton Hudson renames itself Target Corporation; Target Direct is formed as a separate e-commerce unit.
  • 2001: The names of the Dayton's and Hudson's department stores are changed to Marshall Field's.

Additional topics

Company HistoryGeneral Merchandise Stores

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