|
This article covers the history of Target Corporation, the discount retail chain. ==1902–61: Dayton's== (詳細はGeorge Draper Dayton, a banker who built his wealth by buying farm mortgages in southwest Minnesota and an active member of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. During the Panic of 1893, which caused a decline in real estate prices, the Westminster Presbyterian Church burned down, and because its insurance wouldn't cover the cost of a new building, the church was looking for revenue. Its congregation appealed to Dayton to buy the empty corner lot next to the demolished building from the church so it could rebuild. Dayton bought it and eventually constructed a six-story building on that corner lot in downtown Minneapolis.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/target-corporation-history/ )〕 In 1902, Dayton, looking for tenants, convinced Reuben Simon Goodfellow Company to move its nearby Goodfellows department store into his newly erected building. Goodfellow retired and sold his interest in the store to Dayton.〔 The store's name was changed to the Dayton Dry Goods Company in 1903, later being changed to the Dayton Company in 1911. Dayton, who had no prior retail experience yet maintained connections as a banker, held tight control of the company and ran it as a family enterprise. The store was run on strict Presbyterian guidelines, which forbade the selling of alcohol and any kind of business activity—opening the store, advertising, and business travel—on Sundays. It refused to advertise in newspapers that sponsored liquor ads. In 1918, Dayton, who gave away most of his money to charity, founded the Dayton Foundation with $1 million.〔 By the 1920s, the Dayton Company was a multimillion-dollar business that filled the entire six-story building. In 1923, Dayton's 43-year-old son David died, prompting George to start transferring parts of the business to another son, Nelson Dayton. Right before the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the company made its first expansion by acquiring the Minneapolis-based jeweler J.B. Hudson & Son. Throughout the Great Depression, its jewelry store operated in a net loss, but its department store managed to weather the economic crisis. In 1938, George Dayton died and Nelson Dayton assumed the role of president of the Dayton Company, a $14 million business. Throughout his tenure, the strict Presbyterian guidelines and conservative management style of his father were maintained.〔 Throughout World War II, Nelson Dayton's managers focused on keeping the store stocked, which led to an increase in revenue. Consumer goods were generally rare, so shoppers no longer had to be persuaded to buy whatever merchandise was available. When the War Production Board initiated its scrap metal drives, Dayton donated the electric sign on the department store to the local scrap metal heap. In 1944, it offered its workers retirement benefits, becoming one of the first stores in the United States to do so. This was followed by offering them a comprehensive health insurance policy in 1950. In 1946, it started contributing 5% of its taxable income to the Dayton Foundation.〔 In 1950, Nelson Dayton died, and his son Donald Dayton assumed the role of president. The Dayton Company was run by Donald and four of his cousins instead of by a single person. This younger team of managers abandoned the Presbyterian guidelines that George and Nelson upheld in favor of secularism, and started selling alcohol and opening the business on Sundays. It favored a more radical, aggressive, innovative, costly, and expansive management style. It acquired the Portland, Oregon-based Lipman's department store company during the 1950s and operated it as a separate division. In 1956, the Dayton Company opened Southdale Center, a two-level shopping center in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. Because there were only 113 good shopping days in a year in Minneapolis, the architect decided to build the mall under a cover, and Southdale became the world's first fully enclosed shopping mall. The company became a retail chain with the opening of its second Dayton's department store in Southdale.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Target Corporation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|