Blog Makeover

Round three, lets see if I can keep it up this time. I added some different colors so I figured it might help me stay a little bit more interested. So on a blog I suppose I'm allowed to say what I want and comment on what I want and analyze what I want how I want. Well here is an article that I read from the Anchorage Daily News about the target that just opened which I found extremely disturbing and Im sure any of you who live in a state that have target will agree with me that it is slightly disturbing. Im starting to worry about the fate of my fellow alaskans.



Long wait is over for Alaska Target shoppers

After trial opening for VIPs, two stores open today

By JULIA O'MALLEY
jomalley@adn.com

Published: October 7th, 2008 10:39 PM
Last Modified: October 7th, 2008 03:12 PM

What is it about Target, that everyday Outside shopping fixture, with its acres of parking, wide aisles and discount swank, that makes Anchorage people freak out?
Is it the knock-off snakeskin handbags? The Chihuahua-sized Halloween costumes? The mod bottles of environmentally friendly, lavender-scented toilet scrub?

There were no real answers Tuesday night as the first batch of VIP shoppers flooded into the chain's new east-side store, only awe. For the first few minutes most people -- they were a group made up of specially invited community members and relatives of employees -- pushed their apple-red carts empty as Alaska band Pamyua played tribal funk from a spot cleared out near kidswear.

"It was like they were giving it away for free, how excited I was," said Deirdre Cronin, running her hand down the soft cotton of a little girl's shirt. At first she couldn't decide what to buy, there was just too much to take in.

"But I'm over that," she said, gesturing to a blouse and pair of jeans in her cart.

Before 6, as a giant Target-red hot-air balloon inflated in the parking lot, the much anticipated retailer cracked opened its doors to an eager, shivering crowd. The store and its Wasilla counterpart officially opens this morning at 8. Long lines and crowds are expected.
Before the shoppers came inside the perfectly organized, untouched Anchorage store Tuesday night, the "team members," as salespeople are called, did a few warm-up cheers in their red shirts embroidered with Alaska flags and Target bull's-eye logos. A manager yelled, "You want to ask them what?"

In unison, they called back: "Can I help you find something?"

The store is 172,000 square feet (about four acres), parked on what was once woods off the Glenn Highway near Bartlett High School. Between 350 and 400 employees have been hired to work there.

Tuesday's shoppers strolled by little tables stocked with appetizers -- meatballs near the shoes, tiny desserts by the detergent aisle, "Targetinis" (a mix of sparkling cider and pomegranate syrup) by baby accessories. Each would leave with a swag bag decorated with Target-logo salmon and containing a stuffed Target dog wearing a kuspuk. At one point, someone in the band started singing "We be shoppin', we be shoppin,' " to the tune of Bob Marley's "Jammin."

Is it risky to open a new store just as the national economy is sinking, when consumer confidence is down and people seem to be shopping less and saving their cash? No, said Brie Heath, a public relations person in from Minnesota, who surveyed the sea of customers. The store has low prices, making it attractive to shoppers when budgets are tight. Their stylishness helps them draw customers over the competition, she said.

Linda Thompson walked with purpose to frozen foods. She was in the market for beef enchiladas, she said. And kale in a can. You can't get that anywhere.

"We've been waiting forever," she said.

Debbie Boland, a little breathless, stood at the head of a line for a Nintendo Wii, holding a slick "Wii Fit" used for workout video games. It was the newness that people wanted; they wanted different things to buy, she explained.

There was something validating about having another major chain store, many shoppers said. As if a Target made Alaska less remote somehow. As if being able to buy what people Outside could buy shortened the distance between here and there. As if, somehow, access to stylish discount housewares meant the city had arrived.

"It's huge for Alaska," Boland said, just as another shopper, sipping a Targetini, rolled by.



Target has VIP's now? "We be shoppin" Targetini? Come on....