Target Corporation, usually known simply as Target, is an American retailing company that was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1902 as the Dayton Dry Goods Company. In 1962, the company opened its first Target store in nearby Roseville. The Target store concept grew and eventually became the largest division of Dayton Hudson, culminating in the company changing its name to Target Corporation in 2000. The company has opened stores in all but one state (the exception, as of October 2009, being Vermont), operating as Target, Super Target, and formerly Target Great land.
 

Target is the second largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Wal-Mart. The company is ranked at number 28 on the Fortune 500 as of 2009, and is a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 index. The company licenses its bulls eye trademark to Wesfarmers, owners of the separate Target Australia chain.

1902–1962: Dayton's

In 1902, George Dayton constructed a six-story building in downtown Minneapolis and convinced R.S. Good fellow Company to move its Good fellows department store into the location. The store's owner, Reuben Simon Good fellow, retired and sold his interest in the store to George Dayton. In 1903, the store changed its name to the Dayton Dry Goods Company, and it changed its name again to the Dayton Company in 1911. In the 1950s, it acquired the Portland, Oregon-based Lipmann department store company and operated it as a separate division. In 1956, the Dayton Company opened South dale, the world's first fully-enclosed two-level shopping center in Edina, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The Dayton Company also became a retail chain by opening its second Dayton's store in South dale.
 

1962–1971: The founding of Target

Target's original bulls eye logo from 1962 until 1981.In 1962, the Dayton Company, using a concept developed by John F. Geisse, entered discount merchandising by opening its first Target discount store in Roseville, Minnesota, a suburb north of Saint Paul. The name "Target" originated from Dayton's publicity director, Stewart K. Widdess, and was intended to prevent consumers from associating the new discount store chain with the department store. The new subsidiary, Target Stores, ended its first year with four units, all in Minnesota. Target Stores lost money in its initial years, but in 1965 it reported its first gain with sales reaching $39 million, allowing a fifth store to open in Minneapolis. In 1966, Bruce Dayton launched the B. Dalton Bookseller specialty chain, which became the largest hardcover bookseller in the United States. The bookseller chain was named after the founder, but with the y in Dayton replaced with an l. Target Stores expanded outside of Minneapolis by opening two stores in Denver, Colorado, and sales exceeded $60 million. In 1967, the Dayton Corporation was established and it went public with its first offering of common stock, and it opened two more Target stores in Minnesota resulting in a total of nine units.

In 1968, Target changed its bulls eye logo to a more modern look, and expanded into St. Louis, Missouri, with two new stores. That year, Target Stores experienced a transition phase: Target's president and co-founder, Douglas J. Dayton, went back to the parent Dayton Corporation and was succeeded by William A. Hodder, and senior vice president and cofounder John Geisse left the company. He was later hired by St. Louis-based May Department Stores, where he founded the Venture Stores chain. Target Stores ended the year with 11 units and $130 million in sales. In 1969, it acquired the Lechmere electronics and appliances chain that operated in New England, and expanded Target Stores into Texas and Oklahoma with six new units and its first distribution center in Fridley, Minnesota. The Dayton Company also merged with the Detroit-based J.L. Hudson company that year, to become the Dayton-Hudson Corporation consisting of Target and five major department store chains: Dayton's, Diamond's of Phoenix, Arizona, Hudson's, John A. Brown of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Lipmans. In 1970, Target Stores added seven new units, including two units in Wisconsin, and the 24-unit chain reached $200 million in sales. That year, Dayton-Hudson also acquired the Team Electronics specialty chain that was headed by Stephen L. Pistner.