Four Target Stores Outlived Sears’ Empire of 700

Four Target Stores Outlived Sears’ Empire of 700 Subscribe to Parallel Fates for new business duels every week: two companies, one storm, different endings. Prefer to listen? Parallel Fates is also a podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6OdbdvY... 00:00 The Wish Book and the question 01:48 Sears: from watches to a catalog empire 03:33 Target: born inside a department store 04:45 The Scoreboard: who would you bet on? 05:32 The storm: the discount revolution 06:28 The Fork: two companies, one question 07:40 Sears' choice: shrink to focus 10:01 The Kmart merger and Sears Holdings 12:08 Bankruptcy in October 2018 13:19 Target's choice: design for everyone 15:40 Sears shrank, Target sharpened 17:02 The final Scoreboard Target vs Sears is the story of two American retailers that faced the same storm, the rise of the discount store, and ended in very different places. Sears, Roebuck and Co. grew from a mail order watch business into the biggest name in American retail. Target began in 1962 with four stores in Minnesota, as the discount arm of the department store company Dayton Hudson. In October 2018, Sears Holdings filed for bankruptcy. Target Corporation was still a household name. Both companies could see the discount revolution coming. Walmart overtook Sears as the largest retailer in America in 1991, and Target itself was still trailing Walmart and Kmart in the late nineties. What happened next is the fork in the road. Sears spent years restructuring: it sold its financial businesses, closed its catalog, tried a softer, clothing focused identity and, in 2005, merged with Kmart. Target made a different choice and bet on good design at affordable prices. This video follows both sides, the moment their paths split, and the pattern behind the result. It is not a story about fools. Both companies had smart people, plenty of data and a clear view of what was coming. The difference was what each one decided a customer was coming to the store for. Some figures in this story come from historical accounts that differ, so the narration marks them with phrases like "by one count". More duels: Nintendo vs Sega:    • How Sega Beat Nintendo, Then Quit Making C...   McDonald's vs Burger Chef:    • Burger Chef Invented the Kids’ Meal. McDon...   Parallel Fates. Two companies. One storm. Different endings. #Target #Sears #BusinessHistory