Target coming to Hawai'i?

[Miulang]

OK, guys, if Target ever gets a toehold in Hawai'i, you will never want to go back to shopping at WalMart. Not only is the quality of the goods they sell better (and not that much more expensive) but they treat their workers better. I shop at Target but rarely shop at WM (the only time I shop at WM is when I receive a gift card).

"...The addition of Target to the retail mix in Hawai'i would please many residents, especially well-traveled kama'aina and Mainland transplants, who have long desired for Target to open stores here. In an Advertiser reader poll in 2001, Target was the most-cited retailer that Islanders wanted to see open in Hawai'i, topping votes for Trader Joe's, Crate & Barrel, IKEA and others..."

Miulang

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

Target is a great store! I certainly hope Hawai'i gets one soon, along with (not a retailer, but..) an Olive Garden....I've read of so many in Hawai'i yearning for the salad and breadsticks in other online fora!

About Target..their pricing is very competitive with Wal-Mart, and like Miulang said, the quality is superior to that of WM's offerings.

One of the fun things about Target is the way they often times clearance out items. If one goes up and down the end caps of the store, it is common to find 4 to 5 piece odd lots of a given item which they take drastic markdowns on; most of the time these end-of-aisle clearance items are at store level and unadvertised. I've seen items store-level reduced by up to 80%...just look for the red reduction sticker. Good things can be had at really outrageously low prices at times. One just has to be at the right place at the right time to get these deals.

[Tiabla]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

This is the best news I've heard all year (so far)!

OK, guys, if Target ever gets a toehold in Hawai'i, you will never want to go back to shopping at WalMart.

*nods in agreement* Take a Walmart, remove the dirty conditions and unhappy workers, add some style and keep the prices the same, and you've got Target.

Target is a great store! I certainly hope Hawai'i gets one soon, along with (not a retailer, but..) an Olive Garden....I've read of so many in Hawai'i yearning for the salad and breadsticks in other online fora!

I love me some Olive Garden, too. I never ate there that often when I lived on the mainland, but now that I can't have it I crave soup & salad all the time. What I'd give for some breadsticks and alfredo right now....

[AbsolutChaos]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

One of the only stores from the Mainland, other than Victoria's Secret, that I miss is Target. If we get a Target, maybe I can visit the Mainland every two years instead of every year!

[Miulang]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

Somebody reading HT must work for WalMart, because that person gave me a red chicklet for saying Target is better than WM! ROFL! The truth hurts sometimes.

Miulang

[Konaguy]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

Somebody reading HT must work for WalMart, because that person gave me a red chicklet for saying Target is better than WM! ROFL! The truth hurts sometimes.

Miulang

I work at the "other big box" retailer . That being said, bring on Target.
I was EXTREMELY unimpressed with the Target store I went to
up in Mount Vernon Washington. I hated the layout, shoes were strewn
about. That being said it wasn't me that gave you the red ding. Maybe
it was one of the Wal-Mart lovers on the board Not naming names

[Miulang]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

Aaron, you're certainly entitled to your opinion because you speak from experience. As for home building big box stores, I would say that I prefer Lowe's for the same reason: because I don't like the layout of HD! We have both a Lowe's and an HD almost across the road from each other.

Miulang

[tutusue]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

[...]"...The addition of Target to the retail mix in Hawai'i would please many residents, especially well-traveled kama'aina and Mainland transplants, who have long desired for Target to open stores here. In an Advertiser reader poll in 2001, Target was the most-cited retailer that Islanders wanted to see open in Hawai'i, topping votes for Trader Joe's, Crate & Barrel, IKEA and others..."

Miulang

Yes! Bring on Target AND Trader Joe's, IKEA and Crate & Barrel...in that order!

[zztype]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

OK, how do we make a poll in this thread?

[ ] Target
[ ] Trader Joe's
[ ] IKEA
[ ] Crate & Barrel
[ ] Bath & Body Works

(I added the last one for my wife who loves that stuff but can't get it.)

Blaine

[Konaguy]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

Aaron, you're certainly entitled to your opinion because you speak from experience. As for home building big box stores, I would say that I prefer Lowe's for the same reason: because I don't like the layout of HD! We

I like the layout of Home Depot over Lowes. I went into Lowes the first
time out in Mount Vernon.It was across from the hotel we were staying
in.I came out unimpressed, I didn't like the layout that much. I prefer
Home Depot's layout much better.

[Konaguy]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

OK, how do we make a poll in this thread?

[ ] Target
[ ] Trader Joe's
[ ] IKEA
[ ] Crate & Barrel
[ ] Bath & Body Works

(I added the last one for my wife who loves that stuff but can't get it.)

Blaine

I vote Target, I don't really have any use to go to any of the other stores
mentioned

[tutusue]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

[...]
[ ] Bath & Body Works

(I added the last one for my wife who loves that stuff but can't get it.)

Blaine

eBay!!!!!!
Oh shoot...I shouldn't give away my secret!

[pzarquon]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

The whole Bath & Body Works thing is bizarre to me. I guess the company knows better than anyone when the numbers don't work for a store here, but I can't see how they wouldn't! Go to a Bath & Body Works store in Vegas or Seattle or even New York. If you put more than four or five bottles into your basket, the salesperson will ask, "Are you from Hawaii?" When my mom stocked up in NYC last year, the cashier said that Hawaii tourists sometimes wipe them out!

I recall that there was a local store that sold Bath & Body Works merchandise without a franchise agreement, and for a time felt it was worth it even despite paying some kind of penalty fee or something in settlement to the company.

Um... but back on topic, Target! Apart from Aaron, I guess, almost everyone I know who shopped at one (notably my wife from Florida and my sister in law from the East Coast) desperately wants one here. I find myself at Walmart, despite myself, for the prices, and if Target can keep their prices down and kind of... er, one-up Walmart on store ambiance and product styles, I can't wait to check it out.

[AbsolutChaos]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

The whole Bath & Body Works thing is bizarre to me. I guess the company knows better than anyone when the numbers don't work for a store here, but I can't see how they wouldn't! Go to a Bath & Body Works store in Vegas or Seattle or even New York. If you put more than four or five bottles into your basket, the salesperson will ask, "Are you from Hawaii?" When my mom stocked up in NYC last year, the cashier said that Hawaii tourists sometimes wipe them out!

I recall that there was a local store that sold Bath & Body Works merchandise without a franchise agreement, and for a time felt it was worth it even despite paying some kind of penalty fee or something in settlement to the company.

Um... but back on topic, Target! Apart from Aaron, I guess, almost everyone I know who shopped at one (notably my wife from Florida and my sister in law from the East Coast) desperately wants one here. I find myself at Walmart, despite myself, for the prices, and if Target can keep their prices down and kind of... er, one-up Walmart on store ambiance and product styles, I can't wait to check it out.

I used to scoff at Bath and Body Works, because everywhere I turned in any Southern or Midwestern Mall, that's all I seemed to see. The only thing I used to like about B&Body Works was watching guys shop there, awkwardly trying to guess which lotion/gift set to get for a loved one or family member. The discomfort on their faces at being in such a pink and feminine store, competing with a hoarde of women and not knowing where to go, was priceless. On my sixteenth birthday, all my friends apparently didn't talk to each other about what they got me, because I ended up with 5 or 6 B&BWorks lotions that year! At the time I was dismayed, but then I got used to having a variety to choose from (hmmm....what do I feel like today, Country Apple or Freesia?), and now I can't go back to only having one or two.

Suddenly finding myself completely denied B&BWorks upon moving here, I started missing it...a little at first, and then becoming an obsession. Whenever I have a guest/family visit from the Mainland, they are required to bring me a B&BWorks lotion before they are allowed access to my apartment. (I kid you not--no lotion, no bed for you!!!) In Dec. I went to Ohio and loaded up on 5 or 6 more lotions, including one from Victoria's Secret. Man, those things really make one's suitcase heavy!

At this point in time I have an entire row in my apartment devoted to the stuff--I have somewhere between ten and fifteen different scents! Guess it's time to admit I got a problem...that's the first step, isn't it?

But, um, oh yeah, back to Target...
If Target can find a way to sell B&BWorks products then I only need go to Mainland once every three years.

[Surfingfarmboy]

Re: Target coming to Hawai'i?

The next trivia contest than Scrivener runs or the next edition of Honolulu Zoom that Pzarquon coordinates will find me donating a Bath and Body Works product to the prize pool! That is, if future editions of these contest are in the stars. Perhaps this would double, even treble, the participation rate if a Bath and Body Works product(s) were offered as a just reward for being a top finisher in the contests!

I've always been aware of Bath and Body Works stores and their products, but that's as far as my knowledge goes with it. I've never actually purchased anything from them. I had absolutely no idea, to borrow a word from AbsolutChaos, how obtaining their lotions and soaps has become such an "obsession" in Hawai'i among those who can't readily obtain it. This is very interesting. It seems like every single mall I've ever been to on the mainland has one of these stores...I guess I always figured the Hawai'i market would be saturated with them just the same.

Just a thought: It would seem that the Las Vegas airport would be a great place to put in a Bath and Body Works boutique to service the many Hawai'i residents who visit Sin City on vacation...I bet such a boutique would do well.