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Monday, February 07, 2011

Target and the Candy Store

A couple of weeks ago I was struck by the notion that some business models evolve and thrive while others stagnate and struggle to stay alive.  I was pondering this thought after working with a downtown merchant who owns a candy store which is open 7 days a week including evening hours. 

The candy store is one of the few merchants who is open on both Saturday and Sunday and in the evenings. The store owner realizes that most people want to explore quaint, downtown shops on the day trips during the weekend or in the evening while coming downtown for dinner.  His business is one of the few that is open during those times and he explained if all the stores were open, more visitors would be attracted to the area, thus supporting each individual business. I couldn’t help but agree with him as I noticed yet another store had closed shop, one that did not have evening and Sunday hours. 

The fact is we no longer live in the 50s where Mom goes shopping downtown through the week while the kids are at school, or on Saturday with the kids, then spends Sunday at church and with family.  We are now a 24/7 society...for better or worse.  My husband and I love weekend day trips. We enjoy going out to dinner and browsing through the shops. Monday through Friday we are both working. 

With this subject still fresh on my mind I turned on the TV one night looking for anything intelligent to watch and came across, "The Target Story" (that may not be exactly what the show was called but it was the point of the show.)  Well, I LOVE Target! So I settled right in to see how this retail giant came to be. 

Turns out it goes all the way back to 1902 and even earlier.  In 1902 George D. Dayton became a partner in Goodfellow's Dry Goods Company. Yes, back in the day before discount retailers and departments stores there were "Dry Goods" stores. After a decade of rapid growth they changed the name to Dayton Company which was a better name to reflect their evolving business. By the mid 50’s they realized the growth was in the suburbs so they opened the nation’s first mall, Southdale Mall, in Edina MN.  The company soon realized that people wanted quality discounted merchandise so in 1962 they officially opened the first Target, a discount department store.

Throughout the next 30 years Dayton’s continued buying up other retail department stores and expanding their operations throughout the country.  In 1969 they merged with Hudson's department store and became Dayton Hudson Corp. By the mid 70’s Target was their number one producing store.

Dayton-Hudson continued opening Target stores throughout the country, coming to the southeast in 1989.  In 2002 they renamed Dayton-Hudson to Target Corporation. 

A couple other interesting facts about Target:
  • The Dayton family was involved from 1902 to 1983 
  • The company has always had a strong community involvement of giving and philanthropy. 
  • Pronouncing Target in the French way may have evolved from their sponsorship of the International Trans-Antarctica Expedition which included a Frenchman or could have resulted from Oprah's use of the pronunciation, it is not a French company. 
OK enough of Target history...here's the point...Target evolved. They continually assessed their market and changed with the times. What if they had remained a "Dry Goods" store? Would you be shopping there now? Probably not.

The question I pose here is, "Is your business evolving with the changing times or are you trying to do business in a way that is outdated?

With the invention of the internet came a whole new way to do business. Today we have virtual staffs, virtual offices, and even virtual businesses. And in this virtual world we want to "know" the person or company we are doing business with, think FaceBook. In the virtual world and the real world we like 24/7 access. Yet a few things have not changed.  We still value trust, dependability, quality, and outstanding customer service. 

Target has done an excellent job of evolving with the times. We can now push our carts through the wide aisles of the discount retailer or sit at home and shop on the internet.  The Candy store is doing everything it can to evolve by recognizing our love of nostalgia while catering to our busy schedules which includes shopping during the evenings and weekends.  
 
How about your business? Is it rolling with the times? Are you tapping in on what your customers want now?


I welcome your comments on this topic!