History of Target
History of Target (TGT)
Target Corporation is the 4th largest retailer in the USA, operating 1,556 stores in 47 states. Target was founded by George Draper Dayton, 1902. Dayton started working in coal mines and lumberyards at the age of 16, but he was determined to live a successful life and became a banker just a few years later. Dayton then went on to buy the Bank of Worthington in Minnesota. In 1902, Dayton started a store known as Goodfellow Dry Goods, which would be known as Target many years later. Eventually the store would expand to fill the six-story edifice. Dayton, with no previous experience in the retail trade, wielded tight control of the company until his death in 1938. His principles of thrift and sobriety and his connections as a banker enabled the company to grow. As long as he was at the helm, the store was run as a family enterprise. Every Christmas Eve he would hand out candy to each employee of the store. Obsessed with punctuality, he was known to lock the doors at the onset of a meeting, forcing latecomers to wait and apologize to him in person afterwards. This approach did not stifle business; Dayton Company became extremely successful. A multimillion-dollar business by the 1920s, Dayton Company decided it was ready to expand, purchasing J.B. Hudson & Son, a Minneapolis-based jeweler, in 1929, just two months before the historic stock market crash. In 1967 the company changed its name to Dayton Corporation and made its first public stock offering. That year, it also acquired San Francisco's Shreve and Company, which merged with J.B. Hudson to form Dayton Jewelers. In 1968 it bought the Pickwick Book Shops in Los Angeles and merged them with B. Dalton. The late 1980s found the company the focus of an unsolicited takeover bid by the Dart Group, which would involve lawsuits by both parties before a stock market crash in October 1987 ended the takeover attempt. A second attempt at takeover of the company would be made nine
Target Corporation is the 4th largest retailer in the USA, operating 1,556 stores in 47 states. Target was founded by George Draper Dayton, 1902. Dayton started working in coal mines and lumberyards at the age of 16, but he was determined to live a successful life and became a banker just a few years later. Dayton then went on to buy the Bank of Worthington in Minnesota. In 1902, Dayton started a store known as Goodfellow Dry Goods, which would be known as Target many years later. Eventually the store would expand to fill the six-story edifice. Dayton, with no previous experience in the retail trade, wielded tight control of the company until his death in 1938. His principles of thrift and sobriety and his connections as a banker enabled the company to grow. As long as he was at the helm, the store was run as a family enterprise. Every Christmas Eve he would hand out candy to each employee of the store. Obsessed with punctuality, he was known to lock the doors at the onset of a meeting, forcing latecomers to wait and apologize to him in person afterwards. This approach did not stifle business; Dayton Company became extremely successful. A multimillion-dollar business by the 1920s, Dayton Company decided it was ready to expand, purchasing J.B. Hudson & Son, a Minneapolis-based jeweler, in 1929, just two months before the historic stock market crash. In 1967 the company changed its name to Dayton Corporation and made its first public stock offering. That year, it also acquired San Francisco's Shreve and Company, which merged with J.B. Hudson to form Dayton Jewelers. In 1968 it bought the Pickwick Book Shops in Los Angeles and merged them with B. Dalton. The late 1980s found the company the focus of an unsolicited takeover bid by the Dart Group, which would involve lawsuits by both parties before a stock market crash in October 1987 ended the takeover attempt. A second attempt at takeover of the company would be made nine