Central Question and Annotated Bibliography.

Central Question: How was the company, Target, founded and how does it continue to be successful in these modern days?

Bibliography:

Target. "Target through the Years." Target through the Years. Target Corporation 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2013

This helps to answer how Target grew into the successful store we know now. On Target's website, they have a link to their company history. It all started out with The Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1902. It first becomes the Target we know and love in 1962. That is just the beginning, if one is to scroll even farther, there are all their milestones, changes, even events. It's a nice place to find a lot of information in one place.

This website, run by the Target Corporation talks about how the industry started out and its history. It's a very helpful resource because it is formatted in a timeline style so that a viewer can just scroll through it and read all about the development of Target. A reader is also able to view certain sections, such as: "In the Community", "Corporate Milestones", "Our Founders", etc. It's helpful if a person is just trying to find information about one topic.

"Minneapolis-based Target Corp. takes the remodeling route." Finance and Commerce 3 Jan. 2011. General OneFile. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

This article talks about how Target is trying to optimize their profits, while also keeping up with the needs of their shoppers. The main addition is a grocery section in every Target. There is also talk about renovating other areas while in there. Their goal is to make it more efficient and shopper friendly without having to sacrifice space or service in any way. It also gives statistics about how many Target stores are currently being remodeled, have been, or will be. 

Since this was published recently, then it is an indicator as to how the Target Corporation is doing in this ever-changing world. It shows that they're trying to compete with other large-scale "one-stop" shopping centers, like Wal-Mart. In order to add a grocery section, the store must shut down the area temporarily. This store is very good about not disrupting the customers and will do light work when there are the most shoppers. This is pleasing as many people depend on Target as their primary source for household items.

Merrill, Ann. "Local hero or a retail zero?" Minneapolis-St. Paul CityBusiness 6 Apr. 1992: 1+. General OneFile. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.

Everyday Hero is a store that The Dayton-Hudson Company opened and wanted to try out. It's a store that specializes in clothing. It is being compared to The Gap and Marshall's. The section also talks about Dayton-Hudson's past trials of stores. There is reference to a bookstore and a home furnishing store. Neither of these were very successful and had to close after a few years. Although there is high hope for this branch to be more successful because it hopes to carry brand name products and have a more spacious area to display clothing. They are also only testing two stores in Minnesota, so they can see how things will work out in the long run. 

Seeing as this article was published in 1992, it is known nowadays that the Everyday Hero store was not successful. It had to close down in 1996, four years after opening their first stores. Although it is relevant because it shows how the store, Target, is willing to take risks in order to make customers happy and bring in more revenue. By listing all of their failed previous experiments, it is a positive sign that their company will be around for a long time because small losses don't affect it significantly.