When the competion gets tough, the tough get going! Target has turned their stacking employees into stocking "robots". The young people I see in the Target stores look like they are putting in their time and can't wait till the day is over. Too many policies based on profit and fewer and fewer based on the employees and the customer! Too bad because the young people at Target could be on a great career path if they were allowed to think. Stocking shelves the same way day after day after day cannot be a great job. RULE 1: THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIHT! RULE 2: WHEN THE CUSTOMER IS WRONG, REFER TO RULE 1! Target needs to build on the greatest customer base in the country and provide that customer the best value for the dollar! If Target does that it will survive! Product problems in the furniture and tool areas. Imported "knock-offs". Not good! Cheaply made high margin products. I've got shares, up from $10, but we need to get ready for tough times ... again! Good Luck to my Target Associates and thank you!

so I spend as little as possible since, perhaps, my job could be gone tommorrow. i.e. searching news.google.com for "layoffs" returns a shockingly high number of juicy stories....

I hate Walmart, and like shopping at Target. Unfortunately Target has made a few strategic decisions that cause me to no longer make it my one stop going to or from work. Some departments have been pared down so that they have a portion of what you need, but not all. You can buy a Parker Jotter, but you can't get a refill for it. You can buy from a huge selection of linens, but you can't find screws large enough to hold a curtain rod. Store brands of food items are hit and miss, causing a shopper to be cautious about trying a new product. contrast this with Trader Joe's where every food item is consistantly good. Target needs to rethink its strategy and augment the MBA's with a few citizen shoppers.

A new Target store just opened in my town in NY and we were all excited. I went to apply for a job there. The first thing the interviewer said to me was "I'll tell you right now you can't get a full time job. They are all part time." So, the store opened and I still have not even went inside. I think I'll stick to the stores I always shopped at.

I agree with fwallen - the selection at Target is not as broad as it used to be. Additionally, they do not keep the shelves stocked. Yesterday I was at Target and in the section I was in, fully 1/3 of the hooks were empty! They were out of what I wanted. (Found it at Walmart). Target is no longer my #1 destination like it used to be. Target emphasizes "cheap chic" but that is not what I'm looking for.

Every thing Target Stores have ever done is a duplication of a successful WAL-MART system. Anyone who shops at Target is clueless. Employees are PART TIME ,used to be called DAILY EXTRAS ,so company does not have to pay benefits. 98 % of employees are women ,do you wonder why that is ?

Except for groceries...I might never go shopping again.

As a shopper of Target for may years now, I can safely say the one thing that is consistent with the Target shopping experience is INVENTORY INCONSISTENCY. One week an item will be in abundance, the next week the item will be out of stock or no longer carried at all! 'fwallen' is absolutely correct in noting the paring down of some departments to almost nothing at all. I shop at the flagship Target store downtown, but sometimes will need to shop elsewhere for an item that used to be available there. Target has such potential to rule the discount shopping market: the products are affordable and of quality, the stores attractive and clean and the service is most acceptable. If our dear Target could just keep the same items from one week to the next, we could all continue to shop happily from one week to the next.

Apparently Target has over 360,000 employees worldwide. I used to think that it would be terrible if Target had massive layoffs, since most of these people are low-paid cashiers/stockboys/etc. But with a job that low on the economic food chain, there's much more room to go up than down. These Big Boxes have displaced entrepreneurship, independent mom&pop shops, and the skills/assertiveness/leadership that go along with them. My problem with Target as a consumer is that while the majority of items in any Big Box are made in China (how could capitalism exist without communist labor?), the problem is that the quality in a number of departments has gone downhill. Gardening/patio is the cheapest plastic/tinny crud available. Same with a number of other departments: tools, cooking, furniture, etc. It's all low-end crapola. I'd rather make my own, spend a little more, buy used, or do without.

Target isn't anywhwere near as controversial as Wal-Mart for labor issues and corporate responsibility. And I don't think Target is lying when they say they give away more than $10 million per month to education and other community programs (something like 5 percent?). This is something to be proud of. The stock hasn't performed well in the last year but there are logical reasons for that, with the first being that our economy is slowing. Secondly, Wal-Mart stock is up in the last year because investors expect consumers to seek low prices and are attracted by their overseas expansion. But there is always a dark cloud following Wal-Mart around... lawsuits, labor issues, and small town monopolization. Target stock has always been exposed to business and economic cycles. If an investor is trying to "buy low", then this decline might be a good time to buy Target stock. As a note of personal opinion, my family enjoys shopping at Target. Unlike Wal-Mart, it is usually clean and there is actually a reasonable amount of space in the aisles. My wife finds great deals on the clearance stuff. Adding groceries to stores (SuperTargets) just adds convenience. I give Target my vote of confidence and will continue to shop there. Thanks Target for supporting our neighborhood schools!