Target, Whose Stores Were Ravaged In BLM Riots, Will Spend Over $2 Billion With Black-Owned Businesses

On Wednesday, Target, which had stated last September that it would increase representation of black employees by 20% over the next three years, followed by asserting that it would spend over $2 billion with black-owned businesses by 2025. Target stated it would add products from over 500 Black-owned brands to its shelves or website.

Target’s chief growth officer Christina Hennington stated in a news release, “We have a rich history of working with diverse businesses, but there’s more we can do to spark change across the retail industry, support the Black community and ensure Black guests feel welcomed and represented when they shop at Target,” chief growth officer Christina Hennington said in a news release.

“Among Target’s changes, the retailer said it will more actively seek out advertising firms, suppliers, construction companies and other kinds of businesses that are Black-owned. It said it will create a program called Forward Founders for early-stage start-ups led by Black entrepreneurs to help them develop, test and scale products to sell at mass retailers like Target,” CNBC reported. “It will be modeled off of Target Accelerators, a program for start-ups that the retailer uses to foster up-and-coming brands and ultimately, to sell fresh and exclusive products that attract customers and help it differentiate from competitors.”

The announcements by Target follow a series of riots, some of which impacted Target stores. In the wake of the death of George Floyd, one Target store in Minneapolis had to be totally rebuilt after being destroyed by rioting. Other Target stores were also damaged during rioting, causing the retailer to close numerous stores in Minneapolis, where Target’s headquarters are located.

“Target, headquartered in Minneapolis and with a strong presence in the city, announced Thursday night that it was temporarily closing 24 stores in the area,” SupermarketNews reported on May 29, 2020. “As of Friday morning, all but six of those stores had reopened. Some of the retailer’s locations were damaged and had been the site of looting, according to news reports and video. By Friday afternoon at 1 p.m., Target had once again closed at least 20 more stores, according to a spokesman.”

One video captured how a Target store in Minneapolis was trashed during the riots:

The Star-Tribune reported last November 11:

The Target store on E. Lake Street in Minneapolis reopens Wednesday for the first time since shutting down in May following riots that destroyed the business and many others along the normally bustling commercial corridor. …

In the preceding months, store managers listened to store employees and surveyed neighbors while rebuilding a store that was destroyed down to the studs because of looting, vandalism and sprinkler damage. …

While Target’s Midway store in St. Paul reopened a week after it was damaged by the May riots, the destruction of the Lake Street store was far more extensive and took longer to rebuild. Hundreds of thousands of products had to be replaced during a rebuilding process that cost Target Corp. “millions” of dollars, said Target spokesman Joe Poulos.

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