I Stopped Shopping at Target: Here’s Why
Written by
Laura Bogart
Edited by
Levi Leidy
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Whether your trip to Target is a planned outing for the whole family, or one of those impromptu visits for a bottle of shampoo that somehow becomes a $300 shop-a-thon, you’re certainly not alone in spending your hard-earned dollar under the red bull’s eye.
In fact, psychologists have even worked to understand “the Target effect,” or the strategy behind how the store’s look, layout and organization is designed to get you to load up your cart and break out your wallet.
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However, some people have become increasingly immune to Target’s charms. Citing everything from lack of inventory to heightened surveillance to overall messiness, these people have stopped shopping at Target. GOBankingRates talked to a few former Target shoppers, whose names have been changed.
Inventory That Doesn’t Hit the Bullseye
When John used to set foot in Target, he came to expect that at least one of the items on his shopping list wouldn’t be on the shelves. The problem was so significant that he once mentioned it casually to an employee.
“I once asked an employee helping me out about all this and it was like he had been waiting for someone to ask [and] said staff are as frustrated as we are … He also vented about huge understaffing issues,” said John.
Even when John tried to verify the inventory online, he found discrepancies between online and in-store stock. “[I was] tired of having my time wasted,” he said.
Low-Quality Clothing Choices
While Alysabeth hasn’t completely stopped shopping at Target, she’s dramatically cut back her business there, in no small part because of what she called, a “bad selection with the cheapest clothes construction of the lowest tier I’d consider.”
The lackluster quality of the clothing and uncomfortable fitting rooms turned her into a very casual customer, limiting her visits to about five times within the past four or five years. She said she’d consider going to Target only for “super basic stuff” like underwear, spare PJs for her son when he visits or maybe bedding as a gift for a young person in her life.
However, the only reason she visited in February was because she had a gift card she needed to redeem.
Poor Produce
For Grace, the quality and selection of Target’s grocery selection leaves much to be desired. She also flat-out called Target’s produce section “awful” — and she’s not alone in that opinion.
In an article about Target’s curbside pick-up for fresh groceries for Mashable, called “Why You Should Never Buy Fresh Groceries at Target,” writer Felix Behr said, “Target’s selection’s too small, too expensive and too low quality.”
Damaged Items
Though Josephine and her family try to avoid the rush and clutter of in-store shopping, she still finds that even ordering online doesn’t guarantee a quality, or even in-tact item. She’s given up on Target after finding too many packages damaged on her doorstep.
Extreme Surveillance
Of course, stores like Target need to protect themselves from theft — which has far-ranging impacts on inventory and pricing. However, shoppers like Roberta and Maryanne find the intensity of Target’s security measures too off-putting.
“The extreme surveillance makes me feel uncomfortable — I always feel guilty when I’m shopping there, because there’s so much monitoring,” said Roberta.
Meanwhile, the presence of armed guards in her city’s Targets is enough to encourage Maryanne to shop elsewhere. She said she will now avoid the stores at all costs.
Other people have observed the heightened security protocols at Target, even on Reddit threads that aren’t expressly devoted to shopping, like r/mildlyinteresting. One Redditor quipped, “I’ve seen fewer cameras in a Vegas casino.”
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