Target Stores

This is a specific concern about a specific marketing practice at the Target store in Keene, NH, although I would expect it can be found everywhere.
This morning, we went shopping and decided to pick up some coffee, if there were any on sale. When we went to the coffee aisle, we found that the labeling practice made it so that a degree in higher mathematics was required to compare prices. Various brands of coffee and even grinds and roasts within brands featured pricing by ounce, pound, and quart. How is it possible to compare the price of a quart of brewed coffee with an ounce of coffee grounds?
It is clear that customers are not supposed to be able to make easy price comparisons. This is most discouraging to find in a store that’s supposed to be consumer aware.

Pretty lame, dirty, crowded, poor customer service.

Let me be clear right off of the bat that I SERIOUSLY detest these type of stores & by that I mean the type of stores that are absolutely cavernous & pander to most Americans love of cheap, made-​overseas-​in-​sweatshop-​garbage. If that is your thing you will LOVE it here. Seriously like 100 different styles & colors of women’s flip flops. Socks ALONE are ridiculous. Why does there NEED to be 100 different colors & patterns of women’s sneaker socks? I don’t consider myself an extreme minimalist, although I suppose next to most Americans I am, I just don’t see the «need» for sooooo much unnecessary stuff. People think they «need» one of everything to make them happy & stores like this just pander to that & make it worse. And I can’t stand that I can pretty much get lost in this store because they are so insanely big.
And as huge as this store is, they really do a terrible job of stocking the two things we’ve recently been here for. My son needed a rain coat. They carried three girls rain coats & by three I mean one style, one color, three sizes left. NO boys rain coats. NONE. Not toddler boys, not baby boys, not children’s boys. NONE. *sigh* Honestly I can’t find a rain coat anywhere though. I’ve been to consignment shops, Target, & JCPenny, even Family Dollar (which sells cheap as dirt & cheap quality clothes). It’s the rainy season, why is it impossible to find a rain coat, even in a cavernous Target?
Came here again for sneakers for my son. Found ONE pair in his size that wasn’t completely cheap garbage. Wanted to also pick him up a pair of hiking shoes but they didn’t carry those in his size (those they only had in stock in two sizes). But they were doing a buy one get one 50% kids shoes sale so I figured we’d get our daughter another pair of sneakers that way when she outgrows her current pair she’d already have one new, bigger pair. And those were ridiculous too. There was only ONE style & color in her shoe size. I mean seriously, with such a HUGE store FULL of sooooooooo much stuff how is it possible that finding something simple like a pair of sneakers, hiking boots, or a rain coat is like pulling teeth? So incredibly aggravating. I mean, I consider that stuff necessities — sneakers, hiking shoes, rain coats — those are necessities. NOT 100 different styles of flip flops & 100 different colors & patterns of sneaker socks — that is just over kill, but «over kill» is what they do have. *sigh*
If you have time to pop in here every few weeks (I don’t) you can probably get good deals on the clearance racks although JCPenny’s mark-​downs are much cheaper & I feel like JCPenny’s quality is better too.
I know they have to ask, but corporate PLEASE stop making your cashiers to ask their customers if they want to open a Target card. If I wanted to open one, I’d ask to open one. It’s just annoying.
And again, corporate, get with the times! RECYCLE for goodness sake. You produce cheap crap in sweatshops overseas, the absolute LEAST you could do is some green-​washing by recycling your paper & cardboard boxes!
The store seems messy although I’ve only been in here twice recently & both times on weekends so it could just been that customers make a mess & they don’t have the staff to keep up with it.

An oasis of sorts… for those who want something better than WalMart. While a little more of a drive than I’d like (my son goes to school in VT), this Target is worth the trip. It’s very clean & well laid out… but I’m taking a few points off for repackaging electronics as new. We were looking for a combo DVD/​VCR for him to take back to his dorm & picked up the only model left on the shelf. It appeared to be brand new from the way it was taped up. Once we were back at his college (25 minutes away), we opened it up & saw that it was NOT in it’s original packaging. This should have been properly marked & discounted if it was an open box item AS IT WAS NOT FACTORY SEALED. As a former electronics salesperson THIS IS A BIG NO-​NO in my book. Luckily, there was no problem with the player.
Next time I make a purchase at this store, I will ask an associate AT THE STORE to verify whether or not the item I’m purchasing is factory sealed.

This experience I had at this target was moderate until i spoke with the Store Manager after completing my transaction. I had made an $ 87 credit card purchase and the Cashier Failed to verify that I was the owner of the card. I spoke with the manager who said it was Target Policy, that the cashier do not touch your credit card. I attempted to speak with someone in the corporate office but ended speaking with a customer relations representative in India I believe.
This practice of not touching the credit card is only going to enable credit card fraud at Target Store and other retailers that abide by the same practice.

This particular Target store is a dream. Clean, good lay-​out and of course, big! We came here to pick up some things for Christmas and I was astounded at how put together it looked — especially given that the day before was Black Friday. The shelves didn’t look pillaged… there weren’t red shirts in every aisle restocking and taking up space… it was a nice breath of fresh air in the chaos that is Christmas shopping. I like it!