Target foot traffic down for 11th straight week after caving on DEI

Just an opinion, but I feel like trouble was on the horizon for Target regardless of this DEI fiasco.
Of the major online general retailers, it seemed like Target held out the longest against 3rd party sellers. That was one of the biggest reasons I preferred to buy from Target. But they caved on that and somehow came out with one of the worst implementations. That decision really tarnished their brand for me.
Another factor that made me favor Target over the years is that their clothing offerings were pretty decent quality in styles I liked and affordable prices. But the last few times I've purchased clothes from Target, it's been outright junk and Target should be ashamed. Either way, it turned me off from buying clothes there, and by extension, soured me to the brand almost entirely.
By the end of 2024 I had basically given up on Target, and I can't help but think that all the issues I was having were systemic to the company. Feels like preemptively caving on diversity and equity policies was just another sign of the actual problem the company is facing (i.e. bad management and poor decision making).
- they more or less gave up own thier instore brands too, and went for even cheaper made quality(just go on thier sites and see how many people complain about specific items), which doesnt last very long. target came in hot when they opened stores inner cities, when before they almost never do that due to size and location, but once the pandemic hit, they vastly scaled back on many things it was a sign when thier items are getting more expensive every year. target is trying to be sneaky by trying to get rid of thier lower priced better quality item for higher priced medium quality item.

Go Asleep, Go Broke
- Go Fash, Lose Cash.
  
  Nice username

We're all willing to remove the boycott if the CEO livestreams himself having intercourse with a pig, because thats a good metaphor for what he's doing now. Then he and the target board of directors have to butcher and eat that pig. If he streams that, we'll come back. He can even keep his job.

I had a target I would eat lunch at whenever a contract took me to the area, I could just walk over and get a personal pizza and drink.
Not anymore.
It's getting harder to shop at places that don't bend the knee.
Thats not a challenge to get more places to bend so we don't have a choice, I would happily never spend money in the United States again if I could help it.
- I value you for your commitment to DEI, Chief O'Brien. I'm sure Keiko approves as well.
- Lotta moments like these adding up. Lotta times I myself just end up not buying a thing instead of getting it from better places, too. Between that, financial uncertainty with all the craziness lately, and folks just being broke, I have a feeling consumers are spending a lot less these days.

They acted like friends for years, but wouldn’t stand up for us at the first sign of trouble.
How are we supposed to feel and act?
Frankly, we are being a bit too mature about it
- I called to cancel my red card and the guy asked why so I said it was due to their new DEI policies, or lack thereof, and he said, "WELL, wish there was something we could do to keep you but there's not so the account will be closed. Thanks for calling!" And then basically hung up on me. It definitely made me feel like the adult in the relationship.
  
  They sound like they tacitly agree with you if that was their exact wording.
  
  Another possibility, but perhaps unlikely. It could be they silently agreed with you and didn't take the normal, "please stay" tactics of offering you extras, etc.
  Those calls may be monitored and that was the least they could do to keep their job.
  Or, you know, it's just what it is: acceptance.
  
  Ok, then, that’s that. Tell all of your friends that there is now a rainbow target on Target.
  Let’s see what we can do to that stock price.
  As they say, the ax forgets but the tree remembers.
- remember may 2023 when they had pride merch by queer creators ash+chess and the merch was really fucking cool and then 2 weeks in they got death threats and pulled it all from stores
- I stopped going as soon as that bullshit with the conservative influencers freaking out over the swimsuit, with target immediately caving and removing them from stock

For the week that began April 7, foot traffic at Target stores dropped 4.7% YoY, according to Placer.ai.
Costco, which unlike Target, defied calls from the Trump administration for private companies to abandon their DEI efforts, notched its 16th straight week of foot traffic increases.
- costco also a great place to buy stuff in bulk for much cheaper, while target had alot of shrinkflationing going on , they shrinkflationed, and cheapflationed thier own instore brand"up and up" to dealworty.
  thier up and up was very good compared to brand name, but when they were going through shrinkflationing, thier products sucked.
- Go anti-woke, go broke.
  
  Go fash, no cash.
- I became a Costco member 3 weeks ago on this basis.
  
  i work close to one, but i havnt had a urge to go-out of my way to a costco, i dont have a membership.
  
  My family joined in February.

Target doesn't know who to simp for to get more business.
Poorh widdol guyyyy
- Like a poor marksman.
- Suggestion to target:
  If you plant bones of the animals you kill in your backyard, you might be able to grow a spine.

they really miscalculated their customer base
- Yeah I think people were shopping at Walmart if they were already willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel for low prices and convenience. Target was considered in a lot of groups where to go if you need big box stuff but have a moral quandary with Walmart. I know it was for me, at least. That entire subset of people was already willing to forsake convenience if it meant shopping along with their values. I couldn't like Costco any more than I already did (superfan) so I'm not necessarily going there more or spending more, but I am evangelizing them when I get the chance.
  Basically I think the absolute number of people who shop with their values is relatively low, but a lot of them went to Target, and now they're not. I have certainly vastly decreased the amount I'm shopping there and instead looking for local/direct online sources of goods I would get from there or just forgoing stuff entirely.
- Too many corpos think we depend on them
  They're all smoking their own propaganda too hard
  
  I’ve noticed that here and there where these idiots are just way too into their own bubble. Fucking wild how that happens even when they’re the ones churning out the bullshit

I stopped going because they lock everything I want to buy behind a window.
I know that's not explicitly related to this article but it pisses me the fuck off because I am literally an eight minute walk to a Target and would go there all the time if they weren't so dead set on making the experience the worst ever.
It's evident that they're pushing people to make online purchases (where they can show you ads and get your info from an app) to pick up in store or have delivered.
They're also pushing customers to use the self check out system. This costs them less money than employing a person. Well, when the self check out machine breaks or people are buying a lot of stuff or when it's a busy holiday or weekend, the line is stupid long and there's no choice other than to walk out of the store (which I have done three times).
Target needs to hire more people and to pay them a fair wage. This will reduce theft due to staff walking the aisles and increase the sense of shopping on a planet that's inhabited by human beings. The place is a shit hole ghost town that feels like a dystopian nightmare.
I mean, this has been an issue for four years. At first, I had assumed that they were intentionally trying to devalue their brand. Now with this DEI thing, I am convinced.
Fuck you, Target.
Also fuck self check outs. They were novel at first but they fucking suck cock. I will not go to a store that doesn't have the option to engage with a human. The last time I gave it a shot, the very first item I scanned was rejected. I put all my shit back in my cart and the one person there to "help" asked what was wrong and I said never again will I ever use self check out. It's a failed system. It threatens people's jobs. It doesn't help you do anything. It doesn't save time.
Sorry. Downvote me. I just really hate today's retail environment.
- Nah, my wife & I feel the same way about self check out. Will happily wait in line instead of using them. I don't work for them, I'm not performing any business functions for them.
- Also fuck self check outs.
  Oh man, seriously, I figured they'd at least get "smarter" or better or...anything in the last 24 years of stores running away with self-checkout. They've become functionally worse. I was with someone buying some food at a Kroger store one day and they now have ML cameras everywhere watching what you do. We were efficiently firemen's-carrying the food items, so first person grabs item, scans it, hands to second person, second person bags it.
  Stupid machine thought we were trying to pocket stuff even though all hands were in plain view from multiple angles. Person had to come over, hit a button, make it review slowed down video footage, and then it allowed us the luxury of scanning and paying for our groceries ourselves.
  In general, middle fingers to all of them. If you're going to replace human checkout with automated checkout, the onus is on you to deal with "shrinkage"/shoplifting. The customer's experience should be as buttery-smooth and painless as possible if you're going to make them work for you. Otherwise, you're going to piss them off and make them want to shoplift.
  Stopped shopping at Kroger. (As well as Target obv.)
  
  I will happily use self checkouts if it gets me out of the store faster/ lets me interact with the least amount of people possible. I work retail, I need that energy for my job.
- Lmao. Reduce theft. Sure thing bud.
- You are 100% right. It’s so much slower than a competent, dedicated cashier. I’ve been a cashier when I was a kid and I still fucking struggle with the self check out. It won’t let you pick up an handful of small items (like protein bars) and swipe them all before placing them, it won’t let you swipe the same yogurt 5 times and then move its 4 twins to the bag. Even doing one item at a time, it can’t keep up if I get going at a good pace. And it gets confused for seemingly no reason, requiring intervention. And many places have a camera and monitor right in your face like I need to see a fucking mugshot of my 3am ice cream purchase.
  
  For your self checkout point I'm convinced they're configured differently based on location, I hated using self checkout in the 'bad' Walmart I used to live by because it'd constantly complain or summon the attendant if I scanned stuff too fast or if there was a tiny weight discrepancy, but when I would go to the 'good' Walmart I had zero issues.
- What we need is a place like Hobby Lobby, that offers a great experience, but unlike Hobby Lobby, isn’t against women’s rights.
  
  And a place that also, unlike Hobby Lobby, uses barcodes on their products (you know, like normal stores do)
- Meanwhile, I'm horrified if the self-checkout is closed and I have to deal with a human.
  
  It works well as an option, but not as a cost-saver.
- Nah, I think your concerns are valid.
  I'm not super against self-checkout as long as their inventory is straight and there is one cashier available when there's a problem, but they put in 4 and often run with no regular lanes.
  Ever try to check out an entire order through a self kiosk with a spot for maybe 2 bags?

I mean, I used to go to Target here and there when I was in the area of one. But I haven’t even thought about going since they started this shit so IMDOINGMYPART.gif.

Closed my target, walmart, amazon accounts. Got a Costco card. We're not coming back! They deserve bankruptcy,.

Splendid

I quite like Costco. And Winco. I really gotta do some research and make sure they're not secretly shitty, but they've both been pretty great for me.
EDIT: Ok well I did some reading.
Costco is owned by shareholders mostly. It pays better than most other grocery stores, has a small amount of unionized stores, and also negotiates a non union employee agreement thingy for other employees. Not as protective as a union tho. They also have a few lawsuits and controversies regarding egg/meat production, specifically in treatment of hens at one point. They've paid some fines and committed to only producing cage free or whatever eggs. Some still claim the farms are cruel, but I didn't see any more results on lawsuits yet. They have a couple cases of "fucked up and had to recall food" as well as one case of an employee dying in SK from heat stroke. They were found at fault in that they didn't strictly enforce the breaks and water rules that were required for summer workers.
Overall, Costco seems better than most, but with some real flaws and things I hope they improve on.
Winco doesn't have a lot of info, it's privately/employee owned, and they don't have a controversies section on wikipedia lol. Their history mostly just talks about how they were established. Winco generally seems to pay its employees better than other big grocery stores (ballpark $16 vs $13 for walmart for example). I think the other big thing is they do an employee stock option thing so there's that too.
- I liked going to winco when I lived in their area. They had 24 hour stores and store brand La Croix that was better than the name brand