target canada . for the separate australian company see target australia . target corporation a target store in lexington kentucky . trading name target formerly called goodfellow dry goods dayton s dry goods company dayton company dayton corporation dayton hudson corporation type public traded as nyse tgt s & p 500 component industry retail founded june 24 1902 ; 114 years ago 1902 06 24 as goodfellow dry goods may 1 1962 ; 54 years ago 1962 05 01 as target january 14 2000 ; 16 years ago 2000 01 14 as target corporation minneapolis minnesota u.s. founder george dayton headquarters target plaza north target plaza south 1000 nicollet mall minneapolis minnesota u.s. number of locations 1 793 1 2016 area served united states key people brian c. cornell chairman and ceo john mulligan evp and coo products beauty and health products ; bedding ; clothing and accessories ; electronics ; food ; furniture ; housewares ; jewelry ; gardening supplies ; pet supplies ; shoes ; sports equipment toys small appliances revenue us 73.785 billion 1 2015 operating income us 5.53 billion 1 2015 net income us 3.363 billion 1 2015 total assets us 40.262 billion 1 2015 total equity us 12.957 billion 1 2015 number of employees 341 000 2016 subsidiaries financial and retail services target sourcing services website www.target.com corporate.target.com target corporation also known simply as target is the second largest discount retailer in the united states behind walmart and is a component of the s & p 500 index . founded by george dayton and headquartered in minneapolis minnesota the company was originally named goodfellow dry goods in june 1902 before being renamed the dayton s dry goods company in 1903 and later the dayton company in 1910 . the first target store opened in roseville minnesota in 1962 while the parent company was renamed the dayton corporation in 1967 . it became the dayton hudson corporation after merging with the j.l. hudson company in 1969 and held ownership of several department store chains including dayton s hudson s marshall field s and mervyn s. wesfarmers began operating an australian version of target in 1973 although aside from naming rights the american and australian companies are unaffiliated . target established itself as the highest earning division of the dayton hudson corporation in the 1970s ; it began expanding the store nationwide in the 1980s and introduced new store formats under the target brand in the 1990s . the company has found success as a cheap chic player in the industry . 2 the parent company was renamed the target corporation in 2000 and divested itself of its last department store chains in 2004 . it suffered from a highly publicized security breach of customer data and the failure of its short lived canadian subsidiary in the early 2010s but experienced revitalized success with its expansion in urban markets within the united states . as of fy 2015 target operates 1 792 locations throughout the united states . their retail formats include the discount store target the hypermarket supertarget and flexible format stores previously named citytarget and targetexpress before being consolidated under the target branding . target is often recognized for its emphasis on the needs of its younger image conscious shoppers whereas its rival walmart more heavily relies on its strategy of always low prices . 3 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 1960s and 1970s 1.3 1980s and 1990s 1.4 2000s and 2010s 2 store formats 2.1 target 2.2 supertarget 2.3 flexible format target 3 subsidiaries 3.1 financial and retail services 3.2 target sourcing services 3.3 private label brands 3.4 website 4 distribution centers 5 corporate affairs 5.1 headquarters 5.2 diversity 5.3 philanthropy 5.4 environmental record 5.5 customer privacy 6 corporate identity 6.1 logo 6.2 differentiation from competitors 6.3 targ t 6.4 nomenclature 6.5 product lines and partnerships 6.6 gift cards 7 target forensic services 8 criticism and controversy 8.1 animal welfare concerns 8.2 bathroom policy and boycott 9 major sponsorships 9.1 events 9.2 museums 9.3 sports 9.3.1 chip ganassi racing 9.3.2 naming rights 9.4 radio 10 see also 11 references 12 bibliography 13 external links history edit main article history of target corporation early history edit the westminster presbyterian church in downtown minneapolis burned down during the panic of 1893 ; its congregation appealed to parishioner george dayton to purchase the empty corner lot adjacent to the original church so it could rebuild ; he instead constructed a six story building on his newly purchased property . 4 dayton convinced the reuben simon goodfellow company to move its nearby goodfellows department store into the newly erected building in 1902 although its owner retired altogether and sold his interest in the store to dayton . 5 the store was renamed the dayton dry goods company in 1903 and was shortened to the dayton company in 1910 . 4 the company made its first expansion with the acquisition of the minneapolis based jeweler j.b. hudson & son right before the wall street crash of 1929 ; its jewelry store operated in a net loss during the great depression but its department store weathered the economic crisis . dayton died in 1938 and was succeeded by his son nelson as the president of the 14 million business . 4 nelson died in 1950 and was replaced by his own son donald who with his cousins replaced the presbyterian guidelines set by his predecessors with a more secular approach . the company acquired the lipman s department store company during the 1950s and operated it as a separate division . 6 1960s and 1970s edit john f. geisse developed the concept of upscale discount retailing while working for the dayton company . using his concepts the company opened its first target discount store at 1515 west county road b in the saint paul suburb of roseville minnesota ; douglas dayton was its first president . the name target originated from publicity director stewart k. widdess and was intended to prevent consumers from associating the discount store with the department store . it opened three additional units in the first year and reported its first gain in 1965 with sales reaching 39 million . later that decade b. dalton bookseller was formed as a subsidiary of the dayton company . 5 the parent company acquired the jewelers shreve & co. and j.e. caldwell the pickwick book shops and the electronics and appliances chain lechmere . 4 it also went public with its first offering of common stock 4 and built its first distribution center in fridley minnesota . 7 in 1969 the dayton company itself merged with the detroit based j.l. hudson company and together formed the dayton hudson corporation . the new company at the time the 14th largest retailer in the united states consisted of target and the department stores dayton s diamond s hudson s john a. brown and lipman s. 4 target reached 200 million in sales while dayton hudson acquired team electronics and the jewelers c.d. peacock inc. and jessop and sons in the 1970s . 4 8 target reported a decrease in profits in 1972 due to the rapid pace of expansion with the purchase and conversion of several former arlan s department store locations . new management marked down merchandise to reduce its overstock and only opened one new location that year target consequently became dayton hudson s top revenue producer in 1975 . dayton hudson was established as the seventh largest general merchandise retailer in the united states with its acquisition of mervyn s in 1978 . 4 1980s and 1990s edit dayton hudson sold lipman s to marshall field s which rebranded them as frederick & nelson and acquired the discount store chain ayr way in 1980 6 and expanded into the west coast market with the purchase and conversion of several fedmart stores in 1982 . 9 it sold the dayton hudson jewelers subsidiary to henry birks & sons of montreal . 4 the company founded the plums off price clothing store with four locations in the los angeles area in 1983 ; the following year it sold the chain to ross stores sold the diamond s and john a. brown department stores to dillard s. 10 11 12 target was established as the dominant retailer in southern california after purchasing fifty gemco stores in the state in 1986 ; that year dayton hudson sold b. dalton bookseller to barnes & noble . 5 the acquisition of several gold circle and richway stores assisted its expansion into northwestern and southeastern united states . 9 later that year dayton hudson sold lechmere to a group of investors including berkshire partners . 7 the exterior of a former target greatland store in laredo texas . in 1990 dayton hudson acquired marshall field s and opened its first target greatland store in apple valley minnesota . it started the everyday hero clothing specialty store with two locations in minneapolis in 1992 9 although they were closed in 1997 . 13 in 1993 the company created a chain of four closeout stores called smarts for liquidating clearance merchandise which were shuttered in 1996 . 14 in 1995 the first supertarget hypermarket opened in omaha nebraska and the target guest card the discount retail industry s first store credit card was launched . 4 j. c. penney offered to buy out dayton hudson for 6.82 billion in 1996 an offer that most analysts had considered as insufficiently valuing the company . 4 15 target remained the company s main area of growth while the department store subsidiaries underperformed . 16 the middle scale mervyn s department store chain consisted of 300 units in 16 states while the upscale department stores division operated 26 marshall field s 22 hudson s and 19 dayton s stores . 4 in an effort to turn the departments around mervyn s and marshall field s closed several locations . 4 dayton hudson acquired greenspring company s multi catalog direct marketing unit rivertown trading company and the apparel supplier associated merchandising corporation in 1998 . 17 18 in 1999 dayton hudson acquired fedco in order to expand its supertarget operation into southern california . 16 19 revenue for dayton hudson increased to 33.7 billion and net income reached 1.14 billion passing 1 billion for the first time and nearly tripling the 1996 profits of 463 million . on september 7 1999 dayton hudson launched target.com website as an e commerce site as part of its discount retail division . 20 2000s and 2010s edit in january 2000 dayton hudson was renamed the target corporation ; between 75 and 80 percent of dayton hudson s sales and earnings were coming from target while the department stores were used to fuel its growth . it also separated its e commerce operations from its retailing division and combined it with rivertown trading into a standalone subsidiary called target.direct . 21 the following year the dayton s and hudson s stores were rebranded under the marshall field s name . 4 16 22 the company sold marshall field s to may department stores in june 2004 and sold mervyn s to an investment consortium including sun capital partners cerberus capital management and lubert adler klaff and partners l.p that september . in 2005 target began operation in bangalore india . 23 in 2006 target completed construction of the robert j. ulrich center in embassy golf links in bangalore and target planned to continue its expansion into india with the construction of additional office space at the mysore corporate campus and successfully opened a branch at mysore . 23 24 on january 13 2011 target announced its first ever international expansion into canada when it purchased the leaseholds for up to 220 stores of the canadian sale chain zellers owned by the hudson s bay company . the deal was announced to have been made for 1.8 billion . target opened its first canadian