pseudo3d wrote:Only since around the early 2000s have they been "cheap chic".
No, Target has always been Cheap Chic. I have been going to Target stores since at least 1978. The phrase Cheap Chic didn't come along until later, but it has always been Target's mantra.
pseudo3d wrote:Originally, they were much nicer than what Wal-Mart, Kmart, et. al. had with more fashionable clothing departments and a more upscale merchandise mix, like carrying LEGO products, which others didn't. Even into the early 1980s, they had automotive departments like the others did. The merchandising was more aimed toward urban customers, and thus rather than blanketing small towns with it (Wal-Mart) or just multiplying like Kmart did, their store base was in slightly larger towns. Only did they start going "cheap chic" when Kmart and Wal-Mart started catching on, and the last time I was in a Kmart in 2009 (since closed, and the store base has further deteriorated, I'm sure) it felt like how Target used to be like.
Well, this is partially correct. Things have always been much nicer at Target, with name brands that the other 3 largest members of the Discounter Class of 1962 didn't (and couldn't) carry. Shoot, Walmart still can't get its hands on Levi's.
So who am I referring to by this class of 1962?
- Kmart, which was created by S.S. Kresge, a dime store
Woolco, which was created by F.W. Woolworth, a dime store
Walmart, which was created by Sam Walton and his Walton's dime stores
And Target, who was created by Dayton's of Minneapolis, a full line department store.
By virtue of its department store roots, Target has always been more upscale. Walmart and Kmart didn't carry Lego until the 1990's, and only then to try to combat Target. Even most of the Target acquisitions (Ayr-Way, from LSAyres, Richway, from Rich's; Gold Circle, from Federated) were all Department Store creations. Venture was a line-by-line copy of Target by one of its creators, John Geisse, by May. (Only Fed-Mart wasn't a true department store creation)
You mention Auto Centers. Full Line Department Stores have Auto Centers. JCPenney, Sears, Montomery Ward, some Macy's, and countless others, including many of the Macy's purchases had them as well. Target, keep in mind, is no longer in that business, and hasn't been since the very early 80's. Kmart left it during their bankruptcy in 2002-2003.
I truly believe that Target had a more controlled expansion than even Walmart, largely because the department store roots actually hindered the organization. In fact, Dayton's (and later Dayton Hudson after the Hudson's merger) reinvented Target at least twice before expanding out of Minnesota, because they tended to lean too high end. Also, unlike Kresge and Woolworth, they had to develop a distribution system.
I have not felt like I was in an old Target in any Kmart, ever. Especially since 2002. The stores of 1990-1997 felt more like Walmart of the time, and Sam Walton even acknowledged that he was concerned with the current management at that time because that was the only era that made an effort to upgrade everything.
pseudo3d wrote:Unfortunately, Target does what it wants because it believes that being the only other choice besides Walmart gives it the freedom to do whatever, and I think that their hubris is finally starting to show. The efforts toward CityTarget and the like has increasingly narrowed their customer base, the "urban-dwelling progressive millennial with rich parents" and that's not going to work at the size of the company they've currently got going, and definitely not as store conditions are deteriorating. The most recent Target remodel seems to replace the red walls (with the white neon, which replaced the white walls with the colored neon) with just plain red and gray walls, at least in my neck of the woods. So not only is the merchandising really bad (besides the adapter, the last time I wanted to buy a few things, both items appeared to be already opened and then put back on the shelf--and those were the only ones there), the store no longer looks like what it did.
Usually, trouble with identity is a sign of poor management and vision, something Target has long had trouble with.
pseudo3d wrote:With the deflation in the grocery industry, I think that Target should've taken a hard look at P-Fresh and decided to not double down on it and focus instead in actually rebuilding a comprehensive merchandise mix in a store that looks and feels nice. That's what Target was at its best, even if the selection wasn't as deep or quite as cheap as Wal-Mart, it had a lot of nicer items and a good presentation (coffeemakers on display, etc.), but that's not really the case anymore.
Target's food section has always felt like 50% normal, 50% Whole Foods. But they left out the most important stuff in the 50% of each they missed, which has caused them to lose sales to Walmart. P-Fresh was too little, too late, because they can't get it out to all the stores. Their profits aren't making it happen.
To me, Target's recent problems started when their credit card system got hacked via an A/C contractor's computer. That lack of security gave me, an IT guy, a serious lack of confidence in their organization. But to compete with Walmart, you have to do things they don't. Target tries, but fails in that respect alone. Return policies, store atomosphere, and selection hurt them.