Target Corporation
From The Matrix
Target Corporation is the second most successful discount retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart. Target has been more successful than competitor Kmart at differentiating itself from Wal-Mart with a more upscale image.
In the past Target has operated several chains of retail stores, including Target Stores, Mervyn's, Marshall Field's, Dayton's and Hudson's. It is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The company was known as Dayton Hudson Corporation until 2000. The retailer known as Target in Australia is owned by Coles Myer.
The company was founded in 1902 when George Dayton opened a retail store in downtown Minneapolis. Originally known as the Dayton Dry Goods Company, it became the Dayton Company in 1910.
In 1962, the Dayton Company opened its first Target discount store. By 1979, it would be the company's top revenue producer.
In 1969, the Dayton Company merged with the J.L. Hudson company. In 1978, the company acquired Mervyn's, and in 1990 it acquired Marshall Field's.
Dayton Hudson Corporation changed its name to Target Corporation in 2000; by then, more than 75% of the corporation's revenue came from the Target division. In 2001, Target Corporation announced that its Dayton's and Hudson's stores would operate under the Marshall Field's brand. The three brands had been operating as a single unit, the Department Store Division.
On March 10, 2004, Target Corporation announced it had hired Goldman Sachs Group to analyze options for selling its Marshall Field's and Mervyn's chains of department stores. Three months later, on June 9, 2004, Target Corporation announced its sale of the Marshall Field's chain and several Mervyn's stores to St. Louis, Missouri-based May Department Stores Company.
Today, the Target Stores division operates under three formats: Target, Target Greatland and SuperTarget.
