Corporate Should Target continue closing its stores at 9 PM?

[jackandcat]

Thinking about how much Corporate wants to reduce payroll costs while increasing guest experience, I long ago noticed our store had very minimal sales after 9 PM, with the possible exception of Friday night. Now that we've seen the stores can function really well closing at 9 PM, and that a large number of retail stores in America close at 9 PM (other than Walmart), why not allocate the same number of payroll hours more efficiently by closing the stores at 9:00 PM indefinitely? This would allow more TMs to be on the floor, registers, service desk and even electronics when guests need them the most. The number of guests who specifically shop after 9 PM and make purchases after 9 PM is not enough to offset the payroll, operational and AP expenses from the longer store hours.

My belief is that most of the "night owl" shoppers will simply adapt to shopping earlier in the evening, or shopping target.com and using Ship-to-Store. In the post-COVID-19 era with a very real likelihood of a weak economy, our guests are likely to be spending their limited dollars for basics and essentials with lower profit margins than our private-brand apparel and home decor products. This is something for Corporate to think about, it still allows Target guests to shop in our store for 14 hours out of the day plus online 24 hours a day. The main thing, though, is don't use this to cut payroll hours but to make sure there's enough TMs to be there for the guests as well as for other operations of our stores.

 

[starmaster1000]

Nah.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

No.
Don't give spot another reason to cut even more hours. Some stores have very few guests after 7pm, depending on their location.

 

[TheCartGuy]

I'm inclined to say yes, but I reserve the right to change my mind down the road.

 

[IhateOPmodel]

Should they? Yes. Will they? No. I just don't see it happening. I agree that not many stores are busy after 9, but why wouldn't they have made the adjustment before if it wasn't profitable? Since they never have it tells me that it must be financially worth it.

I saw other retailers are starting to resume normal hours, I am sure Target isn't far behind.

 

[Planosss]

Honestly, I don’t get the point of “closing early”
When we close at 9pm, we don’t “clean” the store. Or restock the shelves. Everyone in the building starts picking for sfs/opu. With the exception of 1 TM doing reshop.
How is closing early related to covid measures?

 

[IhateOPmodel]

Honestly, I don’t get the point of “closing early”
When we close at 9pm, we don’t “clean” the store. Or restock the shelves. Everyone in the building starts picking for sfs/opu. With the exception of 1 TM doing reshop.
How is closing early related to covid related measures?

Our store just leaves at 9:15. We have an overnight team for now that comes in for SFS. We clean the store all day so I don't see the point in staying after to clean.

 

[Anelmi]

I love closing at 9 but I'm sure it won't last. This is Target, after all. The same store that opens on Thanksgiving and closes at midnight for an entire month leading up to Christmas.

 

[IhateOPmodel]

I love closing at 9 but I'm sure it won't last. This is Target, after all. The same store that opens on Thanksgiving and closes at midnight for an entire month leading up to Christmas.

The only hope you can hold out is they did make the adjustment to not being open overnight over Thanksgiving into Black Friday

 

[happygoth]

I don't see the point of staying open until 10 or later either. 9:00pm is late enough for all stores, and this is coming from a night owl.

We are right next to a grocery store that's usually open until midnight though, so I don't see our hours changing.

 

[jackandcat]

Honestly, I don’t get the point of “closing early”
When we close at 9pm, we don’t “clean” the store. Or restock the shelves. Everyone in the building starts picking for sfs/opu. With the exception of 1 TM doing reshop.
How is closing early related to covid related measures?

You aren't cleaning your store? We perform some end-of-day sanitary cleaning in our store, mainly in Service & Engagement, the store entrances, the break room and offices, but most of us are out of the store before 10 PM. Unfortunately, I don't know if there is cleaning elsewhere in the store.

 

[GRC]

I'd be fine with 10 pm. There's usually still a dozen or so people in my store at 9, but after 10 it was only 3 or 4 most days.

 

[dannyy315]

If we’re limiting guests in the store anyway, I don’t get why we’re still closing at 9. I would’ve thought after we limit capacity, we would’ve went back to normal hours.

 

[happygoth]

The early closing was also to give more time for cleaning. Our local grocery stores close at 8:00 pm due to state curfew. IMO Target should've done the same.

Plus, the guest limits are laughably high.

 

[DBZ]

I vote for returning to normal hours

 

[dannyy315]

The early closing was also to give more time for cleaning. Our local grocery stores close at 8:00 pm due to state curfew. IMO Target should've done the same.

Plus, the guest limits are laughably high.

I guess. But they can just add on the cleaning time after 11pm. And if the store is open for fewer hours, there’s just going to be more people at the store at any given time. Think of it, and I know this is a drastic example, but if we announced we’re only staying open from 12pm-1pm, there would be a line to the end of the parking lot. This seems more about cutting payroll.

 

[happygoth]

I guess. But they can just add on the cleaning time after 11pm. And if the store is open for fewer hours, there’s just going to be more people at the store at any given time. Think of it, and I know this is a drastic example, but if we announced we’re only staying open from 12pm-1pm, there would be a line to the end of the parking lot. This seems more about cutting payroll.

It was good when they first started it as it definitely cut down on our evening traffic. I've been out for over a month so I don't know how things are going at my store now.

 

[BurgerBob]

Honestly, I don’t get the point of “closing early”
When we close at 9pm, we don’t “clean” the store. Or restock the shelves. Everyone in the building starts picking for sfs/opu. With the exception of 1 TM doing reshop.
How is closing early related to covid measures?

That's the only time work can actually get done for my section. Too many guests otherwise

 

[daemon]

We have shoppers till close. In FL places close early so we become one of the last places open.

 

[redeye58]

In our case, we were closing early to reflect a curfew at the time.
Curfew's been lifted but we're so dead at that time of night so it hasn't changed.
Truth be told, I'd just as soon go back to an earlier close.
Except for last minute holiday shopping there's not enough business to justify the later hours.

 

[jackandcat]

If Target's focus is to tangibly improve guest experience, which includes making sure everything in the store is properly ready for the next business day and that there's sufficient staff on hand to assist in all of the departments, I think closing at 9 PM is the best choice.

Another reason I think Corporate should consider closing stores at 9 PM is the growing target.com e-commerce activity. Dot-com operates 24/7 and so the value of keeping the brick&mortar stores doesn't make sense today. We aren't in the year 2000 anymore. It's 20 years later, e-commerce is rapidly where Target will need to compete though the B&M stores will likely continue to be around for a long time but with a slightly reduced role.

Since there isn't really an internal channel for offering suggestions to the high mucky-mucks, and we all know Corporate has their trolls, spies and secret agents social media special assistants checking out this and the Reddit boards, this is why the topic is worth discussing. You can get better work and provide better service with your existing number of team members per week, with extremely miniscule sales reduction, and over time sales will increase because guests receiver BETTER in-store service because TMs are actually on hand.

 

[Florida Dawg]

I wish they would keep closing hours until 9 but I don’t see that happening.

 

[StargazerOmega]

I personally love the 9 PM hours and, while I do think it will last awhile, I don't see it becoming a permanent thing. Even though business becomes slower than molasses around 8 at my store.

 

[Dead and Khaki]

I just want my third shift back. Shit gets done and cleaned up like magic before the store opens.

 

[Tessa120]

If stores close at 9pm, payroll will be slashed accordingly. There will be no extra time to get the store right for guests. Less open hours means less payroll, which means equally strung out as pre-COVID-19.