The American Target Corporation is one of the largest retailers in the United States and one of the hundred largest companies in the world according to the Fortune 500. The corporation owns a chain of stores operating under the Target and SuperTarget brands, which are scattered literally throughout the country. There are also Target stores in Australia, but they operate there under a license obtained by Wesfarmers. Since 2011, the Canadian market has been gradually taking over. The simple and memorable Target logo is one of the most recognizable among American consumers.
Most Target stores are typical discount stores built in the form of a large box with an area of about 12,500 m2, selling literally everything in a row, with the exception of the usually perishable food. The first such store opened in May 1962.
As you might guess from the name, SuperTarget stores are an enlarged version of regular Targets. The area of these establishments can reach 16,200 m2. Here visitors will find more checkout lanes, larger aisles, an expanded range of food products and food courts. The first such store opened in 1995.
However, times are changing and the company continues to experiment with store formats. In 2012, a new CityTarget format appeared - retail outlets with an area of 7,400 m2. The reduced area allowed them to be placed in shopping centers located within the city. The development of this direction is due to the fact that with the growth of cities it becomes more and more difficult to get out to the outskirts, it is much more convenient for many to buy in stores located in the city. Many companies are following a similar development scenario today - for example, recently the company IKEA announced its intention to rely on small stores located closer to the city center.
The development of formats continued in 2014, with the advent of TargetExpress, with an area from 1300 m2 to 2000 m2. These shops are more like regular supermarkets, they are intended for customers who use public transport services, there are no goods in very large packages. Such stores began to open in college campuses and densely populated areas. In the future, the company plans to develop networks of small stores.
However, in 2015, Target Corporation decided to stop “producing brands” and CityTarget and TargetExpress format stores were simply renamed Target. As stated, "Our stores, big or small, have one thing in common - they are all Target." But there is no doubt that experiments with formats will continue in the future.
Today it is already hard to believe that the history of this entire empire began with one relatively small haberdashery store. It all started after the Westminster Presbyterian Church burned down in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The building was not insured and the community had no funds to rebuild. Then the church turned to parishioner George Dayton with a request to buy an empty corner lot next to the church. Which is what was done. This allowed the church to rebuild, and Dayton built a six-story building on the acquired land, in which the Reuben Simon Goodfellow Company housed the Goodfellows department store.
In 1903, Dayton bought the department store and renamed it the Dayton Dry Goods Company. In 1910, the name changed to the Dayton Company, and the name of the department store to Dayton's. Dayton died in 1938, and his business passed to his son Nelson. The company managed to survive the Great Depression and continued to develop. In the 1950s, it began expanding into other cities, after taking over Lipman's in Portland.
The Target brand was born on May 1, 1962, when the very first Target store opened in the St. Paul suburb of Roseville, Minnesota. It was a completely new concept for those years. For this reason, it was decided to abandon the Dayton name in favor of a new name in order to erase all associations with the department store. The start turned out to be extremely successful. By 1965, several more Target stores had opened, bringing in tens of millions of dollars in revenue. The additional funds that appeared allowed the Dayton Company to absorb other retail chains and expand its influence. In 1969, it merged with the JL Hudson Company of Detroit to form the Dayton-Hudson Corporation. By that time, the empire consisted of a whole set of outlets - discounters Target and department stores Dayton's, Diamond's, Hudson's, John A. Brown and Lipman's.
It was Target stores that brought in the most revenue. By 1975, this particular chain became the main source of income for Dayton-Hudson, which continued to absorb competitors (a detailed description of all transactions would require writing an entire book). And in 2000, a significant event occurred - Dayton-Hudson Corporation was renamed Target Corporation. The company headquarters is still located in Minneapolis.
Today, Target Corporation owns many brands under which products are sold in the stores owned by the company. Some of them are created with the participation of celebrities - for example, in 2017, the Victoria Beckham x Target clothing line appeared, which was created by Victoria Beckham. The number of these brands is constantly changing, some leave, new ones come to replace them. The company is constantly experimenting with formats, developing towards online commerce and doing well.
