Reader Krystal went to her local Target store to look for a pretty mundane grocery item: Miracle Whip, the “salad dressing” that many Americans sub in for mayonnaise. Employees told her that Target was no longer selling it at all, and she turned to Consumerist for help, wondering what Target had against Miracle Whip. “Why would they discontinue selling a pantry staple?” she asked. It’s more complicated than that, but Target hasn’t ditched the spread chain-wide.

Krystal even took a picture of the shelf at her local Target in Riverside, which seems to offer every variation on mayonnaise-like spreads except Miracle Whip.

We did two things to figure out the answer to Krystal’s question: we contacted Target to find out what was going on, and we checked out local Target stores to search for the creamy spread. The official answer is that the company hasn’t banned the stuff, and that your local Target might have Miracle Whip, depending on where you live.

“Target does sell Miracle Whip,” a company spokeswoman told Consumerist by e-mail. “It is most widely available in the Midwest, where the demand is the highest. We are continuously evaluating our assortment based on what we hear from our guests and continue to adjust our offerings store-to-store based on guest demand.”

In other words: in some parts of the country, people really like and make salads based on mayonnaise-like substances. In other parts of the country, they do not.

Consumerist editors in New York, Virginia, and Iowa checked their local Target stores. Based on what the Target representative said, the results were exactly what you’d expect.

In summary, if you want Miracle Whip and you want to buy it at Target, check the website or call ahead. You may be better off simply going to Walmart, which generally has a fuller grocery department than Target.

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