Lisa DiGregory-The ShopGirl

On Sunday, I headed off to Target in Frederick with my mother and my little brother for a little shopping and my second shopping review. In 1902, Goodfellow Dry Goods opened in Minneapolis; this small company founded by George Draper Dayton, grew into what is now known as the Target Corporation. In 1962, the company went from owning and running a leading department store to opening its first Target, a relatively new type of discount store promising quality merchandise at affordable prices. Although critics called it a risky move, Target stores were a huge success. Target stores can now be found not only in the United States, but also in other countries such as Canada and Australia. I continuously shop at the Frederick Target located on Urban Pike. Although I did not purchase any items, I still greatly enjoyed looking at the new items while rating the store.

As always, I began my rating process by examining the atmosphere in Target. Walking through the automatic doors, the strong smell of popcorn from the mini food court reached my nose. (I love the smell of popcorn mainly, because it reminds me of going to the movies.)  Happily, no annoying music was heard, as Target does not play music in the store. I actually prefer no music playing when I shop. After reviewing the atmosphere, I drew my attention to my surroundings. The lighting in Target was phenomenal. The store was so bright I could read the signs a mile away. They even had brighter lights where their new displays were.  The store was decorated with giant, interactive Captain American Civil War displays promoting the movie. I was forced to visit these displays several times with my little brother who loves Marvel. Target had three adorable clothing displays with new designer fashions in the women’s section. The store was fairly crowded.

After I reviewed the atmosphere, I focused my attention on the cleanliness of that specific store. Target was overall moderately clean. In some areas (like mainly the toy department), there were stains and food on the floor and on the shelves. Although the toy section was messy, which was understood, the women’s clothing area was clean. There were barely any clothes on the floor. The shoe section was also quite organized except for the clearance shoes. They were all over the place without any organization. One problem I noted with the cleanliness of the store was with the carts. Some of the carts were sticky and dirty. The bathrooms, though, were disgusting. They smelled terrible, and there was toilet paper all over the bathroom floor. I am just going to state that the stalls were beyond gross and leave it at that.

Moving on to my all-time favorite part of the review, the merchandise and clothing review, the products sold at Target were, as always, trendy, high-quality, and fun. Target pretty much had a wide variety including clothing, shoes, movies, toys, toiletries, electronics, etc. I have never had any problems with my purchases from Target. Their merchandise was well stocked except in popular sections like the little boy’s section with the action figures. The only reason I know this was, again, because my little brother adores his action figures. The movie area was filled with new and old movies and T.V shows, which I appreciate. I love buying movies, and I am not happy when stores are not stocked with new movies or the movies I want. Target also keeps up with stocking their store with the latest video games like Disney Infinity and Disney Infinity characters. The merchandise like Disney Infinity characters, movies, and toys had great prices. For example, normally one Disney Infinity character costs $12.99, but they were having a sale. The special was buy two for $20. The movies ranged from $3.99 to $19.99, but this did not include Blu-ray. The clothing section was also very amazing. Target clothing is very hip. Their variety of clothing ranges from old-fashioned yet adorable hippy styles to popular, trendy clothing. This results in Target having a wide audience and appealing to many.  They also have several sale racks that range from 20 to 70% off. Generally, I find the non-sale items to be too expensive. A graphic tee costs about $12.99, which I find ridiculous for a t-shirt.

The reason I saved staff and customer service to the end of my reviewing process was, because of the horrible experience my mother, brother, and I had that day. My brother and I decided we wanted to buy Disney Infinity characters. We immediately headed to the back of the store where they are located, and we discovered a shelf completely full of old and new characters. My brother was so excited he picked up a new Captain American Civil War starter pack and I picked up Mulan. We were both extremely thrilled that they had the characters that we wanted. We continued to shop, and my brother kept telling me how excited he was to go home and play with his new character which he had to hold tightly through the entire time. After finishing our shopping, we went to check out. I decided to pay for both characters. The employee tried to scan the characters, and neither of the characters would scan. Their system said that it could not sell the items, because they were not in their inventory. The front-end manager then came over, and took the characters. He told my mother that he could not sell them to her. We told him how the wall was covered with these starter packs. The manager said that someone unpackaged the characters too early. While this discussion was taking place, my four year old brother was crying seeing as this guy took his toy. My mother asked if they could hold the character for my brother until the product was in their system. The manager stated it was against store policy even though they were the ones who majorly messed up.  They did not care that my little brother was crying, and they did nothing to rectify their mistake.

The nasty front-end manager said no to this cute face!! So mean!!!

The total rating for each item was:

Atmosphere: 5

Popularity: 5

Cleanliness: 4

Bathrooms: 2

Appeal: 5

Merchandise: 5

Prices: 3

Displays: 5

Staff: 1

The total rating for Target was thirty-five. Next week, I will be rating American Eagle.