Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1962. It is the fifth largest retailer in the United States behind Wal-Mart, The Home Depot, Kroger and Costco,[2] and is ranked 27th on the 2005 Fortune 500. It sells more gift cards than any other retailer in the United States and is also the third-largest seller of music in the United States.

Target Corporation's discount retail chain in the United States has 1,418 stores in all states except for Alaska, Vermont, and Hawaii that operate under the mastheads of Target, Target Greatland, and SuperTarget. The company "clearly wants to open a store on Oahu, Hawaii". The first Target store opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota. That store was closed and demolished on January 8, 2005 to make room for a SuperTarget. Target Corporation has aggressive plans to have 2,010 stores open by the year 2010.

Target

Target stores are generally 95,000 to 125,000 square feet (12,000 mē) and carry hardlines ("normal" products and goods), softlines (clothing), and a limited amount of groceries, usually non-perishable. Specifically, Target stores carry clothing, shoes, jewelry, health and beauty products, electronics, compact discs, DVD's, bedding, kitchen supplies, sporting goods, toys, pet supplies, automotive supplies, hardware supplies, and food. They also carry seasonal merchandise such as patio furniture during the summer and Christmas decorations during November and December. Many stores may also have one-hour photo processing, a portrait studio, an optical store, and a pharmacy. Many stores in the southern states also include a garden center. Stores opened and remodeled in 2004 or later also include the expanded snack bar that is featured in Target Greatland locations. These generally include a Starbucks and a Pizza Hut Express in addition to Target's Food Avenue.

Photo Processing

In the past, the one-hour photo processing labs were not owned by Target, but by Qualex, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak and were staffed by employees of Qualex, not Target. However, in June 2005, Target spokeswoman Brie Heath announced that Target Corporation will replace the Qualex photo labs with their own labs running Kodak equipment, and will staff them with Target employees. Unlike the previous Qualex labs, all photo processing is done "in house", including next-day, digital, and Kodak Perfect Touch processing, although a few labs have been replaced with "send-out" only service with a self-service Kodak Picture Maker kiosk. A select number of "test" stores are running with Fujifilm equipment instead of Kodak. Target has also partnered with Yahoo! Photos for online photo services, including ordering prints online for one-hour store pickup.

(Target Information Courtesy of Wikipedia.)