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Great Leaders in Business

In: Business and Management

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The Target Stores are very successful National Corporation in the United States. Target is an American retailing company that has its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second largest retail store in the U.S. behind Wal-Mart. Target is also ranks 33rd on the Fortune 500 as of 2010. The company was founded in 1902 in Minneapolis as the Dayton Dry Goods Company. Target grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson Corporation. It was then renamed as Target Corporation in August 2000. While working for the Dayton Company, John F. Geisse developed the concept of upscale discount retailing, and became the founder of Target from concept to large discount chain. On May 1, 1962 the Dayton Company opened its first Target discount store at 1515 West County Road B in the Saint Paul suburb of Roseville, Minnesota. Target Stores lost money in its initial years, but reported its first gain in 1965, with sales reaching $39 million, allowing a fifth store to open in Minneapolis. Many stores take many years, and even decades before they can see enough of a profit to allow them to expand their store to more locations. Target Stores then expanded outside of Minneapolis by opening two stores in Denver, Colorado and sales there exceeded $60 million. Then in 1967, the Dayton Corporation was established and went public with its first offering of common stock, and opened two additional Target stores in Minnesota which resulted in a total of nine units. Throughout the years, Target continued to expand into new locations in different states due to its success. Since 1982, they have been expanding nationally with stores in California, Arizona, and Texas. In January 2008, Robert J. Ulrich announced his plans to retire as CEO, and named Gregg Steinhafel as his successor. This is due to Target Corporation policy which requires its high-ranking officers to

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