Years ago, when you wanted to have a family portrait taken you’d hop in the car with the family and head to your local department store — Sears, JCPenney, and others. While some of these studios have closed their doors over the years, Target stepped in to fill the void. Until now: the big box retailer announced this week that it would close a handful of its in-store portrait studios in favor of other initiatives. [More]
target
Nearly 501,000 Hoverboards Recalled Over Safety, Fire Hazards
By 7.6.16
Nearly five months ago, major retailer pulled “hoverboard” scooters from shelves after the Consumer Product Safety Commission said the not-actually-hovering devices were unsafe unless they met certain standards. Now the federal safety agency is announcing an official recall of around 501,000 hoverboards. [More]
Target Asks Suppliers To Pay More For Sales And Promos
By 6.8.16
Target has a lot of merchandise sitting around, and they want some help getting it out of stores and into shoppers’ carts. Who are they asking to help? Suppliers say that the discount retailer is asking them to take on more of the costs of marketing products, which cuts into their own profit margins and is an expense that suppliers hadn’t counted on. [More]
Target Shutting Down Curbside Pickup Pilot Program Effective June 15
By 5.27.16
If you were hoping that Target’s curbside pickup would eventually reach your city, your hopes are for naught: Target tells Consumerist the pilot program will be discontinued effective June 15. [More]
What Are Shoppers Buying Since They Aren’t Buying Clothes?
By 5.23.16
It’s bleak out there for a clothing retailer, with sales slumping at many chains, leading some — American Apparel, Aeropostale, Pacsun, among others — to declare bankruptcy. So if we aren’t shopping for items to clad our bodies, what are we shopping for? [More]
Target Using California Stores As Retail Labs To Test “Enhancements”
By 5.19.16
Retailers tend to be cautious about rolling out changes nationwide, instead testing out a couple tweaks here and few updates there. Target, however, is using entire stores in California as testing grounds for dozens of new in-store “enhancements.”
[More]
Target, Pacific Cycle Recall 129K Infant Bike Helmets Over Choking Hazards
By 5.18.16
If you picked up an infant bicycle helmet from Target recently you might want to check to make sure it’s not one of 129,000 recently recalled. [More]
New Target Store In Manhattan Will Feature A Chobani Yogurt Cafe
By 5.12.16
Up here in New York’s hinterlands, our Target stores have snack bars with Pizza Hut pizzas, or maybe a Starbucks if they’re really classy. At a planned store in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood, they plan some classier offerings in the snack bar. Target has partnered with yogurt brand Chobani to open a cafe featuring “Chobani’s signature Greek yogurt and hand-selected, artisanal ingredients.” [More]
NatureBox Expands From Podcast Ads To Store Shelves At Target
By 4.26.16
NatureBox, a subscription box offering curated selections of healthy(ish) snacks, is a company that you may not be familiar with…unless you’re a fan of podcasts, in which case you’re probably tired of hearing about NatureBox, since they’re a frequent advertiser in that medium. Now the company is reaching out to the rest of the population in a partnership with Target, putting its snacks on store shelves. [More]
Target: Customers Can Use Fitting Rooms, Bathrooms That Reflect Their Gender Identity
By 4.20.16
While some states and cities consider rules regarding who can or can’t use which public restrooms, Target has confirmed that its policy is that customers can use whichever fitting room or restroom best reflects their gender identity. [More]
Report: Target Raises Lowest Wage To $10 To Stay Competitive
By 4.18.16
In the retail business, good employees are apparently becoming harder to find. Joining its main competitor, Walmart, Target will reportedly raise its lowest wage to $10, starting new employees at that rate or higher, and raising the pay of current employees who earn less than $10 to that level. [More]
Target’s Marimekko Collection Doesn’t Fly Off Shelves, And That’s A Good Thing
By 4.18.16
Last year, a collection at Target from Lilly Pulitzer was such a hit that it temporarily took down the retailer’s site, and shoppers camped out overnight, cleaning out local stores. By the standards of Target’s designer collaborations, their latest one with Finnish company Marimekko is almost a flop, having only sold out of some of the products on the first day. [More]
Police: Mother-Daughter Duo Stole $28K In Target Merchandise Through Return Scheme
By 4.7.16
When you think of someone stealing merchandise from a big box retailer you probably first think of smaller items that could easily be concealed in purses or on your person. But that certainly wasn’t the case for a mother-daughter duo accused of making away with bed sets, ottomans, chairs, and other items through a return scam at several California Target stores. [More]
Target’s Cartwheel App Now Clips Manufacturers’ Digital Coupons
By 4.4.16
For the better part of three years, Target has offered a standalone app — Cartwheel — that provides customers with discounts on certain products. While shoppers have always been able to combine actual coupons with this discount, the retailer is now aiming to make the process easier, by adding digital manufacturer coupons to the Cartwheel app. [More]
Lawsuit: Target Failed To Pay New York Warehouse Workers Overtime
By 3.31.16
A group of Target warehouse employees in New York filed a class-action seeking lawsuit against the retailer, accusing the company of misclassifying workers with low-level management responsibilities so they wouldn’t receive overtime pay. [More]
Instacart Fires Minneapolis Drivers After Announcing Pay Cuts
By 3.23.16
Almost two weeks after cutting driver pay, grocery delivery startup Instacart appears to continue revamping its service in the aim of increasing profitability. To that end the company has fired all of its drivers in the Minneapolis area just six months after opening for business in the city. [More]
Amazon Sues Executive Leaving To Work For Target Under Non-Compete Agreement
By 3.22.16
Last month, Target announced that they had hired a top executive in supply chain and logistics who was a longtime Amazon employee. He was scheduled to start his new job in Minneapolis next week, but Amazon has filed a lawsuit to prevent him from starting, citing a non-compete contract that he signed in 2012 and confidential information that the executive, Arthur Valdez, shared during his job interview. [More]
Target’s Secret “Goldfish” Project Is “Bent On Disrupting The Way People Shop”
By 3.10.16
Target isn’t exactly a brand most people associate with the mysterious codename-shrouded antics of Silicon Valley, but the retailer is cooking up something fishy with a new super-secret project in California.
[More]
