Target's foot traffic is still down for the 7th month in a row

I wonder if it will go the way of Walgreens, Macy's. JC Penney's, Kohls. Party City . . . which are having massive shutdowns. Massive I tell you! It's a sign of the times.

I think malls and brick 'n mortars will eventually be exclusive, gated affairs. For the wealthy: cloistered-off from the hoi polloi with their guns and riots.

Almost 25 percent of America's largest shopping malls are anticipated to close by 2027, according to research from real estate services firm Green Street Advisors.

Does anyone know if these types of stores and shopping centers outside the U.S. are experiencing similar difficulties?

Target doesn’t merely have a sales crisis. It’s far worse. They have an entirely self-inflicted identity crisis. For years and years, they positioned their brand on inclusion. But at the first sign of resistance — like 2023, when those red state thugs vandalized the in-store pride displays — they showed their true colors. By the time Trump 2.0 pressured companies to ditch DEI, Target was all too happy to comply without haste. In a short amount of time, they alienated much of their consumer base whose loyalty took many years to build. This was entirely avoidable on their part. Now, they’re aimless. Walmart wins on price, Amazon increasingly wins on selection and convenience. Nowhere left for Target to differentiate itself.

Meanwhile luxury malls are thriving.

Target missed the target.

^ But despite that is it closing as many stores as all of the others that have been listed or for that matter been entirely wiped out?

I used to go to Target regularly but found in the last couple years that the prices really weren’t any better than buying at the grocery store. Add in the fact that Target kept eliminating products I would go there for specifically so I really don’t have a reason to shop there now. And this was all before the DEI controversy which only makes it easier to stay away

Yet a new Target is set to open in a space that use to house Kmart

R10 A lot can change in the next 12 months. I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't happen - and they'll blame 'the tariffs'.

R9 in NYC the Target boutique stores are popular for grocery shopping because they are cheaper than most of the other NY grocery chains

Don't be such a Debbie Downer R11

Amidst a broader nationwide expansion reported by LoHud, Target is adding this Astoria location as well as another store on Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton. These openings are part of a wave of new stores rolling out across 22 states. Target's strategic positioning of new stores is guided by local demand, convenience, and existing store locations.

Let them fail.

FUCK TARGET RIGHT IN THE ASS!!!

Target prices suck. And they suck. And are very racist.

PS look up their roots. Gays love giving money to businesses than didn’t have their backs. Target used to donate to anti-gay organizations

Somehow, Target managed to piss off everyone everywhere in a short period of time. That's some sort of talent there. I don't care much about politics but their pharmacy went to shit in a hurry and they never seemed any better than Walmart in other respects, just more expensive. Then they accused me of trying to steal at the self-checkout that became a whole thing for a couple hours, and after my exculpation all the fuckers gave me was a $5 gift card. I learned a lot about the meat department that day.

Target’s quality is— dare I say it— even lower than Wal-Mart’s.

I went in last weekend. I was on the road and ran out of shampoo. The store was pretty quiet. Of course it didn’t have travel bottles of my shampoo. Oh well. Got out without spending a dime.

^ Sure, Jan

Fuck them. Partner and I have boycotted since they became known assholes and we became Kohl's fans. Not sure about Kohl's politics.

I really miss target. I was in Walmart today looking for a trashcan for my bedroom. I Walmart had hideous selections, I just knew Target would have something halfway cute. But their anti-DEI stance still pisses me off so I’m still boycotting.

Interesting as the last time I was there it was packed. Maybe its just my location.

Tar ZHAY! Ha ha ha ha ha

They all knew you were going to be there, r24

[Quote] Target used to donate to anti-gay organizations

BTW R17 What organizations were they?

Walmart and Target were the ultimate 90s–00s fad. They spent 25 years wiping out small businesses with cheap land, cheap gas, and the “one-stop shop” fantasy. Now? The cycle flipped.

Amazon made their giant footprints a burden. Shoppers are tired of the bland warehouse vibe. Younger people want local, niche, curated. And the PR/culture-war drama (especially Target) just speeds it all up.

They’re not vanishing overnight, but their cultural dominance is gone. Just like Sears and Kmart, the giants who bulldozed small-town shops are finally facing their own reckoning.

Not a tragedy — just balance being restored.

Not a tragedy just a large shift in culture and shopping habits

A perfect storm of factors is accelerating the decline of physical retail:

E-commerce dominance: Online giants like Amazon, Temu, and Shein continue to capture market share with competitive pricing and rapid delivery.

High operational costs: Rent, labor, and logistics costs make physical locations less profitable.

Post-pandemic shopping habits: More consumers now prefer shopping online for convenience and selection.

Economic caution: Inflation, interest rates, and recession fears are driving Americans to spend less and save more.

People don’t want to work there either.

I know old people who have million dollar houses today and they had careers at Jordan Marsh and furniture stores. Even 20+ years ago when I worked at a department store, the older people were pretty stable.

It’s not like that today.

Traffic in these big box stores is now a lot of employees picking up items for online pickup or delivery.

Frankly, the stores would now prefer that people do a local advance online order and pickup as they don't have to deal with as much theft or cashiers.

Costco's foot traffic went up and stayed up when they refused to eliminate their DEI policies.

Target's beauty section still seems to be popular with teens and young women, but why the fuck would you buy anything else there? The cheap clothes are sort of acceptable I guess, but young people prefer thrifting and second hand shopping or online fast fashion if they want cheap clothes. The groceries are extremely overpriced and their produce is somehow less appealing than even Walmart's. The cafeteria is probably a huge waste at this point.

Target clothes are cheap crap. You may as well just go to Walmart. Same stuff, just arranged poorly.

[quote]The groceries are extremely overpriced and their produce is somehow less appealing than even Walmart's.

That's a generalization, I have found many good deals on groceries there.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, somehow Target and Oprah teamed up and it was the best thing that could have ever happened to Target. Oprah had recently launched her 'book club' and let everyone know they could buy the book at Target (or as she called it, 'Tarjay'). When she had singers on her show, she reminded everyone to pick up their CDs at Target. Her magazine debuted in the summer of 2000, and Target took out full page ads, while her 'home decorating' pages (with Nate Berkus) were chuck full of products from Target. Berkus spun off his own successful 'home decor' line with Target. Her show giveaways were products from Target or gift cards from the store. That all lasted for about 10 years - then Amazon took over retail by 2010, she ended her talk show in 2011. Target's 'glory days' were over.

Meanwhile, Rosie had her show and short-lived magazine (no matter how she tried, she could never be Oprah) and she teamed up with KMart. She even invited her friend Penny Marshall to do Christmas ads with her for KMart. Around the same time, Martha Stewart did the same thing with KMart - pairing up with them on her show, and her magazine - and introducing her 'home' products in KMart. All to no avail - neither Rosie nor Martha had the power of Oprah, and neither could save KMart.

When I go to Target, I see a great many POC working there. So when it is said that they eliminated their DEI policies, does that mean they eliminated a quota system, which many people (myself included) are strongly against? If the company continues to have a great many POC workers without a DEI "policy," then what's the need for the policy? This is an honest question, I look forward to reading some replies.

R37 I believe the DEI policies were in place for much higher positions than cashiers and stock workers. It was for higher-salaried management positions and higher positions in their corporate and regional offices.

I’m black and you’ll never see me buying a watermelon in public, but I might shop for one online.

I think Target vastly underestimated what the change in DEI policy would do to their image. They probably assumed they could just PR their way out of any initial blowback, but perhaps didn't realize that *everyone* under the DEI umbrella would react as they did, especially when the company was a very visible supporter of DEI policies in the wake of George Floyd's killing.

But that controversy still hovers over them. And unlike Walmart, Target doesn't have as many superstores/groceries, or as many ancillary businesses (like car care, garden center, etc.) that brings people to their stores. So they've really wobbled.

The other thing Target started doing a few years ago is the "thin backstock" approach. Instead of getting a lot in and maybe having a clearance sale if there's too much, they really understock, which helps them save money and also creates a false sense of urgency for some home decor or fashion items, in particular (OMG! It's almost gone). I think some of that has backfired on them, too.

I've bought a few things at Target in the last year - they have a few medical things for me that no other store in the area carries - but I've definitely spent far less than I did in previous years.

When I had my retail store, I used to buy all my products at the NY trade shows in Manhattan held at the Javitz Center. Each morning, as I entered the lobby, there would be a massive huddle of all these young, long-haired blond girls with their jeans on and their red tee shirts that had the 'bullseye' logo on the back of the shirts. Each one had a Starbucks coffee cup in their hands, and with their other hand they'd be playing with their necklaces or hair. When you got close enough to them, you could hear parts of their conversations starting with "Oh, my God!" and "So I was like walking to my hotel..." These were the new hires for the 'buying team' at Target, fresh out of midwest College, first time away from their midwest suburb in the Big Apple. Oh. My. God. Once the show 'officially opened' and they let us onto the floors, the huddle would break up into groups of six and scout off to their 'assigned territory'. I'd run into some of these groups at a vendor's booth, and you knew they had no authority to buy anything - they were there to do the leg work of picking up samples and catalogs from every vendor and then bringing it all back to Target's buying office. The sales reps hated these girls because they had no purchasing power but a lot of attitude - and wasted their time.

Trust me, I never ever saw a PoC in the huddle for the times I ran into them. It was all the mid-west farm girls with pale porcelain skin, blond flowing hair and blue eyes. I never ever saw a sexy Midwest muscled college grad either - IF there was a guy in the mix, it was some effeminate twink in the huddle being daring with blue hair.

Thanks, R38, I figured it might have something to do with that. But again, if what Target basically did was eliminate quotas, I'm sorry, but I'm not against that.

BTW, I was in my local Target the Thursday before Labor Day stocking up on a product that only they carry in my area for some reason (and they are cheaper on this one item than Amazon or WalMart.com). Anyhow, driving there I was expecting the worst - there are two universities nearby and it was 'move in week' for both - classes began the day after Labor Day. Plus, all the public schools were opening the same day - so I was preparing for the crowded parking lot and long lines at the check-out.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and when I got there they parking lot was less than half full. In the store, I could have hit golf balls and not hit anyone. The electronics department - usually filled with college kids - had two cute guys mulling around the cell phones. They had 'back to school sales' posted everywhere but no customers. It was rather surreal. When I go to the checkout I commented to the cashier that I expected a busy store, and she just answered 'It's been like this all summer. No one is shopping'.

R 42 I'm not against 'filling quotas' either, but truly - we, the consumer, will never know if that's what was dropped.

^^^^Sorry - I meant ELIMINATING quotas, not filling quotas.

They are just like CVS, Walgreens, nothing special.

The Target in my area never has any cashiers on duty. The store is usually packed but they only have half of the self-checkout registers open. I avoid going there as much as possible. I only go there if I really have to but I normally buy things on Amazon.

Their clothes used to actually be decent. I’m in my 30s and I have several items of clothing I bought from there when I was in high school that I still wear. Now, all their clothes appear to made out of tissue paper.

Target always had a younger and more progressive customer base, so it may no sense for them to give into Trump. Wal-Mart already had the anti-DEI demographic covered. If you don't know your customer, then you're bound to fail.

[quote]A perfect storm of factors is accelerating the decline of physical retail:

Plus, for Target, the fact that it's being boycotted by liberals for backtracking on DEI policies and by conservatives for the whole Dylan Mulvaney thing.

[quote]So when it is said that they eliminated their DEI policies, does that mean they eliminated a quota system, which many people (myself included) are strongly against?

Corporate DEI policies do not generally involve "quotas." They just want to make sure they have a workforce that reflects the community. Every race, religion, etc., has talented people.

Americans' brains are being poisoned by Fox News. I've noticed that conservatives now think every black person who got their job during the Biden Administration (e.g., Lisa Cook, Ketanji Brown Jackson) only got hired because of a "quota" and aren't truly qualified.

R50, are you saying that hiring quotas don't exist anywhere? I know for a fact that they exist in the theater industry.

I have a colleague at the hospital I work at who's a pharmacist. He was originally a pharmacist for a 24 hour CVS in his neighborhood, than he took a job at a CVS at his local Target since the hours were better (no weekends for him). Here's where he got screwed:

At CVS he was making $34 /hr. When he went to Target, he believed he would be earning his $34. Target's maximum they were paying their pharmacists was $28/hr. (Though their pharmacy is licensed as a CVS, and they take care of CVS prescriptions, their pay is set by Target - not CVS). He claimed during the interview, Target said this was a 'lateral move' for him, so he didn't even question the salary (he made a costly assumption). They wouldn't budge on the pay, and he didn't want to go back to his old shift at his neighborhood CVS (which included every weekend). So he stayed. and soon applied at the hospital I work in, and in less than two months of being at Target, he got the job - which pays him $65 / hr and benefits. He loves this new job and his schedule - no weekends. He did say now he knows why Target and CVS stores have such a a hard time filling jobs at their pharmacy. The pharm techs he worked with at CVS and Target were both making $22 on average, the hospital pays their techs $30.

[quote]Fuck them. Partner and I have boycotted since they became known assholes and we became Kohl's fans. Not sure about Kohl's politics.

I became a Kohl’s mom too. Love their Kohl’s Cash. You can save so much!

[Quote] Fuck them. Partner and I have boycotted since they became known assholes and we became Kohl's fans. Not sure about Kohl's politics.

Bless your heart you proud, brave SJW!

Kohls is okay to shop at. That nerdy ginger on Insta says so.

I like Kohls, they have very nice clothes for women. We got some summer dresses on sale a few weeks ago.

Plus the Sephora is there now, I believe. Picked up some makeup there the other day.

R53 I hope by now you realize they mark their items way above the MSRP so they can then offer you the 'big discounts' which brings the price to about $1 lower than what other retailers are selling it for.

These stores are not in it to lose money and give big discounts - ever.

R49 and yet it's surviving and actually expanding as other stores are shutting down.

anyone here ever heard of Modell's, Mandee's. The Gap, Old Navy . . .? What happened?

They fucked up the app and their discounts are no longer attractive.