Target's Main Target - Employing People of Color

     I visited the Target on Flatbush Avenue in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, located by the notable transportation hub and major shopping destination that is Atlantic Terminal. Target claims the following in their mission statement, “Our mission is to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.® brand promise.” Sounds like a lofty commitment, right? Well, to be fair, I have visited at least half a dozen other Target Department stores scattered throughout the United States, together with having visited the Target in Brooklyn a few times, so I had a pretty good idea as far as what to expect when visiting this colossal retailer. With that being said, let’s try to figure out if my visit to the Brooklyn Target earlier this month matches up to their mission statement, and explore how the Target Department stores are might possibly be gendered, classified, and even raced.

     I have to admit that Target has very reasonable prices along with mostly decent quality. Like all of you, I went to several departments and compared prices with gender in mind. Check out the price comparison between men and women:

	Men	Women
Underwear	Price Range $5.99-$21.99 Fruit of the Loom 7 Briefs) for $9.99 5 pairs (Boxers) $14.99-$16.99 (XXL) Hanes 4 pairs (Boxer Briefs) for $13.99	Price Range $5.00-$15.99 Fruit of the Loom 3 pairs for $8.99- $9.99 5 pairs for $9.64 6 pairs of $8.89 Hanes 3 pairs for $8.00-9.50
Jeans	Price Range $16.00-$30.00 Wrangler: $16.00- $20.00 Converse: $30	Price Range: $17.99-$27.99 Mossimo: $22.99-$27.99 Converse: $27.99
Personal Care	Deodorant: $5.00 Shaving Cream: $2.00-$5.00 Razors: $3.00-$13.00	Deodorant: $5.00 Shaving Cream: $3.00-$5.00 Razors: $7.00-$10.00

What I found to be most interesting is that if you are an XXL male, you have to pay more, but that did not seem to be true for females. The price of razors is pretty interesting to think about, because men’s faces are very sensitive and they have to shave more frequently, but women usually have more real estate to cover while shaving. I did look at the price differences between boys and girls, but mostly everything was the same. However, when comparing toddler clothes, I did notice that they were marketed a bit differently. 

	Babies/Toddlers Boys	Babies/Toddlers Girls
Bathing Suit	$12-$14	$10-$12
Tops & bottoms	“4 for $20”	$5 A Piece, “mix and match 4 items”

     As you can see, the baby girl clothes were marketed as “Mix and match 4 items for $20”, and the baby boys clothes just listed “4 for $20.” I am not really sure why they did that, but maybe it has to do with the audience who typically shops for little boys or girls, and from what I could see, all sorts of people shop at Target. I saw many women of all nationalities aging between 20-50 shopping alone, shopping with other women and men, and I did happen upon many families there. It was a weekday afternoon and the weather was pretty decent, so the store was not as crowded as it usually is compared to a weekend. The men’s department was empty, as was the babies department. I did not see any men shopping alone, all of them were with a woman, a child, or another male companion, which is pretty interesting because a common stereotype is that men don’t shop as often, and women are typically the ones who do the food shopping, clothes shopping, and so on. Something to point out is that I did not really see any upper class people shopping there, but that could be a general assumption that I have since Target is considered to be a more affordable place to shop, and it is hard to pin point exactly what class people are in. I would imagine Target draws all sorts of people to their stores, but more or less it appeals to people who are looking to save money. To put it bluntly, I did not see any people walking around in suits or high heels, like the people we usually see shopping at Bloomingdales. It's of the norm to shop at Target in your sweatsuit or pajama pants.

      Target does hold true to it’s word when they promise “outstanding value” because their products for the most part are affordable, and it is true that some of their clothing and items are made by somewhat famous designers. The prices barely seem to be discriminating toward gender, but when you have a major retailer that offers fair pricing, do you think it is possible that they are fair in which type of people work there? The part about this shopping excursion that was most interesting to me was observing the employees. To be honest, I did not see one white woman working there! By the same token, I only saw one white man who had a bunch of tattoos and was moving some shopping carts around. The cashiers were entirely latino/a, and African American women. I was able to come up with a couple of reasons why this might be the case. First, the location is very easily accessed by many modes of public transportation. At Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street and surrounding MTA Subway Stations, the LIRR, B/Q/2/3/4/5/D/N/R/C/G stop here, along with many bus routes, especially since Barclay’s Center is now there. It’s important to mention that many kinds of people take public transportation in New York City, but I think that people that are in the low wage sector are especially prone to taking public transportation, which brings me to my second point. Target does not pay very well, most likely minimum wage, considering it is a retail job and does not require an advanced degree or special skill. So what does this all tell you? Our Target in Brooklyn’s target hiring group is probably the Latino/a and Black women who are in the surrounding poor or underprivileged neighborhoods of which there are many in NYC, and those who weren’t financially able to pay for college, etc. Furthermore, Target does not seem to mind hiring people of all nationalities, because they want to appeal to all nationalities of customers, of which there are again many different kinds of people in NYC. It might be safe to assume that in our city, a lot of the people who are underprivileged are indeed people of color, so the people who work there are very similar to the people who shop there. I'm also going to bring up the fact that maybe white people would be more prone to getting a job at a higher end retailer, like a boutique or something.

     Last, I wanted to point out something a little extra. Like I mentioned before, I have shopped at Target locations across the United States. Most of the Target’s that I have been in are in more suburban areas but still, all sorts of people shop and work there, and perhaps more of them happen to be white, but I noticed that the Yelp reviews really complained about the customer service at this particular Target location in Brooklyn. To be frank, when I shop at a department store like Target where the prices are low and there are a million products to browse, I don’t expect much help, or even bother looking for help. I wonder if this could have to do with the employee’s skin color or accents? I encourage you to see for yourself. I have linked the Yelp page for the Target in Brooklyn and another from my hometown in New Jersey. I suppose for the clientele in Brooklyn, the customer service in their opinion does not hold up to what Target’s mission statement claims as “exceptional guest experiences.”  If you come from a suburban or white area in the U.S., maybe you could see what people are saying about their customer service on Yelp as well.

       Target is a highly affordable retailer that caters to all types of customers with hundreds of locations in the United States, but this one in Brooklyn seems to be in favor of employing people of color, which is great, but does not help them gain more skills and in turn possible upward mobility out of the retail sector.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/target-brooklyn

http://www.yelp.com/biz/target-englishtown