But the "documentary" (or whatever you'd want to call that video) is worse.

It's hard to take a consumer advocate video seriously when the title of the group has the word "fucked" in it, and the sound track has the word "nigger" in it.

The "artsy" (I can only assume that they were attempting to be artistic) editing makes their claims seem questionable. As if they're trying to mislead, even if I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they're not.

My point is, I'd give this debate to Target.

Yikes, the SUV incident.

She's kind of a bee-yotch.

And the first Atlanta target, in a swank retail/business area, is a freakin' wonderland by any measure.

[www.rdfd.cm]

(Dn't rdr th chclt mlkshk.)

@karmaghost: I don't know. Maybe you're right - but the bar of conduct is pretty damn low at this place and the so many of the people pretty damned unreasonable. Hey, maybe it's fabulously profitable in its current form and there's just no pressure to do better.

I'll take that bet. NYC has over one trazillion katrillion people in it, and Target knows demand won't cease. It's unfortunate, really. They're a big brand, so they have no need to fix this store; the other million stores make up for it.

Mom and Pops may be slightly more expensive, but at least you know they depend on your business, and won't be around much longer if they suck.

I just wanted to add that it absolutely HAS to be horrible management. I worked in the back room (Database Manager) for an independent music store that had ONE buyer.

ONE. FOR THE ENTIRE STORE.

We did not have any automatic systems AT ALL. The buyer had to look at EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF PRODUCT and determine whether to buy more or not. Granted, there were codes in the database (thanks to yours truly) to determine whether it was a "new" selection or not, so he'd know which group of selections to research first, but it was still done MANUALLY.

To be fair, it's an independent store...but with millions of CD titles, DVD titles, and ENDLESS rental DVD/VHS product, we managed to keep everything in stock during a music industry "epidemic" (mp3/DVD torrents/VHS dying and all). And we had 10 times the selection of any big box you can think of.

During all of this, raises were terminated. The company couldn't afford them anymore (special note: the company shut down for a year, only to be re-opened by a new owner, and has succeeded GREATLY for over two years now).

How could this Target possibly FAIL? They get automatic raises and the option of insurance (albeit too expensive to pay for with the salaries they offer).

I don't get it.

But I did many times go to a totally douchey ABC store near PSU. I'm assuming they were not so friendly because 90% of their clientele were students, so I definitely agree that bad clients = bad service ^_^

This is just all starting to sound like the entitled whining chorus of people who once would have lived in Manhattan but heard Brooklyn was cool about 10 years late and then moved here and just complain all-the-time about stuff.

Ugh! Stop already. Or at least ask Target for a response. I personally suspect that the problem is they have about 10 times more traffic than other Targets in a footprint about 1/4 of the size of their average store.

But I mean, give it a break! Video footage?

We get it. You don't like this Target. Jeez.

I love Target. I am aware of four in my area, use them all at various times both before and after Christmas and none come even close to that disaster area. Some sections are still depleted but nothing on that scale. The lines to get out are rarely long, usually have plenty of registers open, etc. Basically every complaint I have about Wal-Mart are complaints I don't have about Target (all four of em). That consistently could be the area but more then likely they just have better managers (and district managers) who hire better employees.

It starts at the top even though I know corporate America loathes to think that managers are at fault for anything. They need to clean house there by starting with the entire management team. Rather then accept excuses they just need to make harsh examples and go from there. Bring in help from other stores (for OT of course), get the stores righted under a new management team and go from there. Might also want to increase wages so get better employees but management is the starting point.

[en.wikipedia.org]

I feel happy that you have never heard of her, thanks!

Omg how did they know????

*sarcasm*

I've never heard of Lizzy Grubman. Who the hell is that?!

Whether employees are responsible depends partly on management, culture, etc.-- but also on whether there are any better jobs available for responsible people than retail stocking.

In NYC there are millions of jobs available within a subway ride from anywhere. Target seems to be hiring the absolute worst tier of employees -- maybe that's what's available.

In a rural area with a terrible economy, Walmart can afford to screw^H^H^H^H^Hhire the best employees around.

@idip: I just wanna weigh in and say that empty shelves don't necessarily mean that product is briskly moving off those shelves. It just means that whoever's supposed to be going through with the ordering RF gun and scanning the barcodes in the empty spots isn't doing their job. And even if they are, the stockers aren't putting anything they're ordering on the shelves.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I laughed at "Targhetto." Clever and so wrong!

@beboptheflop: Yeah, I gotta weigh in on the rural vs. urban big-box store "work ethic." My mom lives in a small town where Walmart came through a few years ago and drove out all the little stores (but that's a rant for another day). It's horrendous in there - dirty, poorly-stocked, and insanely crowded, due to the store's mysterious policy of only having 2 registers open no matter the time of day.
This is a small town. Like, a REEEALLY small town. The work ethic in the downtown Target I shop at seems to be a lot better - but I wouldn't generalize in that direction, either.

Here are the steps to NYC retail Afghanistanification:

1. Women's bathroom door is suddenly replaced with plywood and duct tape.
2. Selection is cut in half; while maintaining old shelf tags, depleted inventory is simply replaced with extra neighboring product (which is why you will see an entire row of Tide With Bleach).
3. Constant foul smell seeps in from one corner of a floor.
4. Rodents gleefully and brazenly frolic among the nutrition bars.
5. Escalators continually out of service; skidmarked pair of tighty-whities is inexplicably caught in top stair of "up" side.
6. The length of the fingernails becomes inversely proportional to the help you will receive.
7. Male pharmacist shrugs when out of your birth control pill prescription...says to come back tomorrow and, "it's not the end of the world if you miss a day" (this actually happened to me).
8. There are registers you have never seen in operation, and never will.
9. Feminine products suddenly abut bountiful bait & tackle section.
10. DVD section consists of only "Everybody Loves Raymond" and Goldie Hawn movies.

(feel free to add)

My biggest fear for this Brooklyn Target is that the Boots products will suddenly go away.

I am disgusted by that place. I used to stop there on my way home from work, but I quit when I could never actually successfully buy anything. Now I just get what I can from Amazon, and sometimes Target.com.

I will say one thing for that store -- sure makes it easy not to impulse shop!

Um, I don't know what helpful, friendly, rural Wal-Marts you've been to lately, but I can tell you based on first hand experience because I do live in rural Arkansas (against my will) that the Wal-Mart here is filthy and the associates are rude.

In fact, just about every store in my little enclave of America is pretty dirty and the recovery of inventory is pretty sloppy. It was the first thing I noticed when I moved here.

I believe there is a great misconception that only rural America has this undying work ethic that one doesn't find in the big cities.

@HogwartsAlum: I think that pr goober Lizzy Grubman (sp) was the anorexic blond in the white shirt. I think I only know that because of the infamous accident when she reversed her lux suv over some people at the Hamptons or somewhere similar.

Anyone read the description of someone attending it? Practically reads like a fortune teller forseeing the future:

"As one attendee, pictured below, put it:

I use the terms "this is surreal" and "I hate hipsters" and "there's no way this could be happening" every day but then last night at Target it became clear that all the other times I said it and didn't mean it it was just practice for this singularly bizarre event.

Three news outlets interviewed me because I was accidentally wearing my 'defend brooklyn' shirt which is about police brutality but aparently it was read as an anti-gentrification statement despite the fact that I was buying discount catfood at an invite-only target night and so many levels of irony were torn through that I think I just came out a happy consumer. Men in red eyeshadow and girls with Robert Smith hair - they've never been to Atlantic Center! I'm not fooled - and doing shots of tequila? That's not going to work out in the end. And then what I was more ashamed of myself was how sad I was that in two weeks, once this joint is open to masses of brooklyn trash who make Pathmark unusable, I will never again be able to admire the rows and rows of blue greeting cards and purchase them with matching envelopes or peruse the aisles of Gatorade without witnessing parents beat their children in the middle and the dirty sick part of me just wants Target to stay exactly like it was last night."

@econobiker: @

I can understand how some locations can generate people not caring due to overcrowding, filth, social pressures (gangs, drugs, corrupt gov't), etc.

In TJMaxx's defense I will say that the mix of products they sell seems to be so varied that it seems difficult for their employees to organize in a consistant way.

I saw Maggie Gyllenhaal and Sandra Bernhardt. No one else I recognized.

The store looks much better there.

The things depicted in this video are not so egregious, really. It's very common for the after-holiday 75% off sales to make the seasonal area look like the aftermath of a nuclear disaster.

And empty shelves are not a surprise for many businesses in January, as companies like to deplete their on-hand inventory to make their fiscal year-end numbers better. Many companies do inventory in January, and the less there is the better.

Just sayin'.

We were cracking up for days about how they yelled at everyone for tips. It's a weird place, but hilarious.

@DanteDiablo: Is it ok if I just take your word for that?

@karmaghost: I guess I'm getting old in my 30s. If I'm paid to do a job I do it, and I don't ruin other peoples' property because...it's wrong. Having my ass kissed (or not) really has nothing to do with it.

They have no notion of the concept of customer service. They don't take pride in their jobs. They don't care if their store is dirty or if their customers are satisfied. THEY DON'T GIVE A SHIT. Period. While living in Detroit, I've had retail workers snap at me, roll their eyes at me, talk on their cell phones while "helping" me, and other egregious things. Some of them have even been managers. It literally sickens me at times.

So yes, it's true. The type of people who work in the city are different than those who work in the suburbs. Of course there are exceptions, but they are few and far between.

And keep in mind, there have been studies done that show that people are more likely to litter in a place that is already littered upon, and more likely to tag a wall where there are already other tags, etc. etc. I'm sure the same goes for a shopping environment. Customers are more likely to throw their items on the floor when they don't want them if it's clear that the other customers and even the staff don't care if the store is littered with merchandise.

[gawker.com]

If your problem is that you're so busy helping customers that you can't restock, then you need to hire more employees. Because the fact is your lack of restocking ISN'T HELPING CUSTOMERS. It's like you're looking them in the face and saying nice things, but then behind their back somebody is about to steal their wallet and you're just ignoring it.

There is no excuse. Ever. For brief periods of time at Christmas if there's a rush you didn't expect. But if you can't get the right amount of employees and get them to do their jobs properly and make the store look nice, then who cares if you're actually assisting anybody when they walk in the door? Your sales will drop, people will not like to shop there, and your store's reputation will plummet. On top of all that, you'll deserve it.

I quit my job that treated it's store and it's customers like that. I couldn't stomach it anymore.

I shopped for many years at a Target store in Minneapolis we affectionately referred to as Targhetto. The product selection was not quite as good as most other stores and the parking lot could be a little frightening, but it was otherwise a typical Target. Not on its worst day did it look anything like this store in Brooklyn.

There's no question in my mind this store has a management problem. Any business that runs on a low-wage, low-skill, high-turnover staff needs very active management and training. Yes it's depressing, but plenty of people don't learn how to be courteous, helpful, and industrious at home. Nonetheless, people can be taught to manage their time and interact with the public in a decent manner. Obviously, no one running this store is trying that hard.

I see it all the time; where I work, people are treated quite well by management and it shows in the customers. I often see customers drop or break things in the isle and then immediately pick them up or report the breakage to an employee. In places like Wal-Mart, even the "nice" one we have across town, in similar situations, customers will just leave things on the floor, keep broken items unreported, and place perishable items in places where they'll "spoil" in a matter of minutes. Yes, this does happen in all grocery stores, but you can minimize it by treating everybody involved properly.

Anybody wanna bet that Target head office is just going to abandon the store, close the doors without notice and not paying back rent or wages?

Thats a line from Steve Martin.. I can't remember the name of the movie, though..

@Outrun1986: Are you kidding? This is Target, not a boutique or even a department store. Cashiers are behind the register, salesmen are on the floor, and everyone's job is relegated. Please.

@Katxyz: Oh, I'm aware that there are slobs everywhere - but this Target seems to draw slobs that are particularly aggressive about it. It's almost like they want to destroy the place. I realize my observations are in no way scientific, but I've never seen the like.

But its kind of the reverse of this video, that Kohls store is so packed with merchandise that its very difficult to even navigate between the racks (since there is no space to walk) to find something you want. Its so cluttered and packed with merchandise that you can't even look to find your size if you wanted to, because the clothes are piled to the top of the rack or packed on the hangers so tightly that you can't even move them to look at them. The amount of product they have is just overwhelming, in a bad way.

It probably DOES take forever to straighten an aisle, it can probably only take 2-5 min for a couple of kids to ransack a department when the employees are away, so even keeping up with the department would not be a solution in this case if it was constantly being barraged by unsupervised children.

If your a floor worker in retail your time stacking the shelves is limited too, at the store I worked at you could be called to the register every 5 min to ring if they needed extra help or the lines were so many people long. You are not only a floor worker when working retail, you can be summoned for other jobs as well.

They do, all big-box stores have them. In fact, the systems are advanced enough that they PREDICT sales and send product anyway.

This is just an example of horrible, horrible management. Not only should the entire management staff be fired here, the district manager should be fired as well.

No store should ever look like this.

If it weren't for the staff, most retail stores would end up exactly like this within 48 hours. The "someone else will clean this up" attitude. is present at practically every place I have ever worked or shopped at.

Yet every time I point out, politely, to a friend or family member they're being messy or rude by putting items on a totally different shelf or leaving spilled food on a table, they act as if since it's the employees job to clean up, it's their job to make a mess.

Last time I went to my (suburban, Southern Virginia) Target, I saw a total of 6 Starbucks cups on shelves throughout the store! They were every where. The rest of the store is very well taken care of, but apparently people are kindergartners who can't handle having snacks available at the new Starbucks in the store.

TJ Maxx looks better than this!

wow. that's pretty bad. Target seriously needs to do some damage control.

How does this Target make money? Shouldn't the bottom line have more of an impact (with people's inability to buy things) more than a viral video? Is Target forced to have this store in order to also have one in Manhatten or something?

This also goes to employees being unavailable. They obviously arent around enough to straighten up, much less help a customer.

@idip: How do you explain no product on the floor AND no employees helping anyone? Because that's exactly what goes down at that Target.

Target has much to be embarrased about when it comes to that store. That video isn't really exaggerating.

I'm surprised Target doesn't use some form of computer assisted ordering that pushes product out when the inventory runs low.

@GirlCat: Sorry, I must disagree - and since you "never" shop there I consider myself a bit more qualified to judge. I'm sure management is no prize, but the most of the customers and most of the staff at this location certainly do more than their share to make it a crappy shopping experience.

They should be embarrassed that this store is kept in such poor condition and people have to resort to going to the pharmacy to check out. You do not want your customers to give up when trying to buy something from you.

@Raekwon: The type that will go through a rack of clothing and toss what they don't want on the floor. The type that will put their "tag" on merchandise. The type that will open a package of Chips Ahoy, eat a few, and leave the rest on the shelf - you know, pigs. Anyhow, I don't go to this Target as often as I used to, but it hasn't improved.

Macy's down the street is pretty lousy too, but the employees do seem marginally better at keeping up.

Hey it looks like your typical Wal-Mart!

Seriously, this reminds me of those news reports about stores in communist countries. You know, the ones where the only product available was razor blades.

@econobiker: FWIW, I interpreted "those kind of people" as the general "city attitude" (gimme gimme now now now screw you i'm in a hurry!)

Same reason many rural Walmarts have nice, friendly, helpful staff and the more urban ones generally suck. Nothing about race at all.

@Raekwon: And what type of people would those be?

The type who leave their Starbucks cups on store shelves for employees to throw away...at least that's what I get from the video.

Product can not be pushed to the floor if employees are helping people. Do you know how long it takes to go through an aisle that has been torn apart to make it all pretty again?

It takes FOREVER! Especially when people start asking you questions and act like you're their personal shopper.

I'm not saying that is a valid excuse for having empty shelves. But in one of the busiest Targets in the nation, this is what happens.

Why should Target be embarrasesed? Empty shevles means they have sold product. Granted if they were always full they could make more money but apparently they are doing well enough.

I'll still shop at Target, nothing beats not having to listen to Christmas music on Halloween *cough*Walmart*cough*.

Ahahahaha Target getting owned by a TJMaxx comment...

I am actually thinking the nice folks from Target are not used to the urban suburb environment of this area nor the type of customers/employees that it generates.