Is the Target Boycott Really Effective?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal I know, but at my school teachers frequently bring up avoiding Target and share alternative places to shop and purchase supplies, etc.

What are the alternative places they suggest?

[Anonymous]

I live in a pretty diverse area with both a Walmart and Target. Target is my preferred spot and customers are all races. I’ll run into Walmart on occasion and it is mainly Spanish speaking customers. My guess is that the well off folks in my town are buying at local shops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal I know, but at my school teachers frequently bring up avoiding Target and share alternative places to shop and purchase supplies, etc.

What are the alternative places they suggest?

Costco.
Michaels for craft supplies.
Ulta for personal.care.
Basically anywhere else for clothing, Old Navy, lands end, Macy's, JC Penney, even Costco for some things.
Look into what's available in local.shops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal I know, but at my school teachers frequently bring up avoiding Target and share alternative places to shop and purchase supplies, etc.

What are the alternative places they suggest?

TJ Maxx, Marshalls, home goods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beyond dropping DEI, Target had recently made several agreements with black owned businesses and of course, there was a loophole so when they got pressure from MAGA folks, the dropped DEI, and along with it all the purchase orders to several blacked owned small businesses. One of them was a woman who I believe made jewelry and had already purchased all the materials and was then left if all these materials and no buyer. I don't know the exact clause they were able to get around for Target to be able to drop these vendors but they did for several costing them so much money. I feel terrible for them so this is not only about dropping DEI, they caused severe financial damage to many small blacked owned businesses. That is unforgivable.

Could also just be that there's not a huge market for these items, which is what Target has said. Their black beauty products just sat on the shelves. And the number of people going out of their way to buy random items from black owned businesses probably peaked in 2021 and has been declining since.

Actually, there is a consistent market for these items — just not in every store (guess why). The only reason I went out of my way to go to Target was to buy hair products and products in their special collections and, of course, on these trips I would buy other things. I was happy to support Target — in their support of other businesses. Beyond that, there’s little / nothing that they sell that I can’t easily purchase somewhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The question I’ve always had for Target is— who did they think was coming to their rescue? Did they think Trumpers were going to flock to their stores to spend their money? What was the calculus on kneeling to Trump?

Costco shareholders rejected anti-DEIA initiatives and are significantly richer for it.

I'm a millennial African American man with no kids. I never really saw Costco as being suited for my shopping needs.Yet, when I heard their board unambiguously rejected the anti-DEI vote as they did, I got on my phone and got a Costco membership. Even if Target sometime in the future , reinstates DEI, something has died inside of me in regards to how I will always view them. In short, I'm most likely forever done with them .

[Anonymous]

The boycott actually changed my spending habits and sent me on an underconsumption kick. I don’t need that stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seven straight months of reduced foot traffic and no back-to-school numb this year. Walmart slight uptick Costco continues gains, even with bad economy.
https://fortune.com/2025/09/09/target-back-to-school-foot-traffic-dei-boycotts/

Wait, so now you are okay with a slight uptick in Walmart? Wasn’t it not too long ago people were anti Walmart too?

PP is just reporting the news. No one on DCUM who is boycotting target is recommending going to Walmart.

The only place I have seen recommended to replace Target is Costco. I have become a member and that replaces a lot of what I used to get a Target. And I now go to a small old school hardware store. It hasn't been hard at all for me to give up Target. For me, t is more of an effort to give up Amazon but I have drastically reduced what we spend on Amazon.

Exactly, Walmart is used as a baseline. Target foot traffic has fallen 3.3% year over year even as Walmart was steady. That is evidence that this is not explained by the bad economy, but by something specific to Target. At the seven month mark and during back-to-school, one of Target's strongest categories, they are still loosing ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The boycott actually changed my spending habits and sent me on an underconsumption kick. I don’t need that stuff.

Same. I used to enjoy a run into target just to see what I might “need.” No more. I don’t miss it as I thought I would.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal I know, but at my school teachers frequently bring up avoiding Target and share alternative places to shop and purchase supplies, etc.

What are the alternative places they suggest?

Costco.
Michaels for craft supplies.
Ulta for personal.care.
Basically anywhere else for clothing, Old Navy, lands end, Macy's, JC Penney, even Costco for some things.
Look into what's available in local.shops.

Ulta is leaving Target, so going into the actual Ulta store (or shopping online) is the way to go for beauty products.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal I know, but at my school teachers frequently bring up avoiding Target and share alternative places to shop and purchase supplies, etc.

What are the alternative places they suggest?

Costco.
Michaels for craft supplies.
Ulta for personal.care.
Basically anywhere else for clothing, Old Navy, lands end, Macy's, JC Penney, even Costco for some things.
Look into what's available in local.shops.

Ulta is leaving Target, so going into the actual Ulta store (or shopping online) is the way to go for beauty products.

And I go to Wayfair for home goods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anecdotal I know, but at my school teachers frequently bring up avoiding Target and share alternative places to shop and purchase supplies, etc.

What are the alternative places they suggest?

TJ Maxx, Marshalls, home goods.

Dollar Tree and Staples for a lot of one-off school supplies
Etsy
Ulta has been mentioned but Sally Beauty is pretty strong for some items
Scholastic Book Club for books (feels like a throwback but great prices…)
Aldi
IKEA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The question I’ve always had for Target is— who did they think was coming to their rescue? Did they think Trumpers were going to flock to their stores to spend their money? What was the calculus on kneeling to Trump?

Costco shareholders rejected anti-DEIA initiatives and are significantly richer for it.

I'm a millennial African American man with no kids. I never really saw Costco as being suited for my shopping needs.Yet, when I heard their board unambiguously rejected the anti-DEI vote as they did, I got on my phone and got a Costco membership. Even if Target sometime in the future , reinstates DEI, something has died inside of me in regards to how I will always view them. In short, I'm most likely forever done with them .

I hope you love Costco as much as I do! I was a late adopter to joining, but I have been so impressed with their prices, products, and customer service. Their operation is amazing. And then the icing on the cake was their rejection of anti-DEI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The US is a confused hot mess right now. Is Target a s#x cult too? It’s hard to keep up!

Politically correct culture everywhere

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The US is a confused hot mess right now. Is Target a s#x cult too? It’s hard to keep up!

Politically correct culture everywhere

In marketing inclusion is good. Use that as a cynical exploit if you want, but you can still take it to the bank and vice versa.