History
In 1926, George Lindsay and Alex McKenzie opened their first store in Geelong selling dress fabrics, manchester and furnishings, and progressively established stores in Victoria, maintaining the policy "Half the Profit, Twice the Turnover". In 1968 Myer Emporium Ltd purchased the chain of 14 stores with the idea of re-inventing the chain as a "discount department store", with the company subsequently renamed Lindsay's Target Pty Ltd. In March 1973, it was renamed Target Australia Pty Ltd. By 1982, Myer was operating 27 supermarkets under the Target brand, but sold these, principally to Coles.
In August 1985, Myer Emporium Ltd and GJ Coles & Coy Ltd merged to become Coles Myer Limited. In 1996, Coles Myer merged the Target and Fosseys brands, and their first specialty store Baby Target was established. Then in 1998, their second speciality store, Target Home opened. Fosseys stores were later renamed Target Country, becoming the third speciality store under the Target name.
In 2001 Target announced its first ever loss, to the sum of $43m. New senior management was soon put in place, with Target repositioning itself from a store directly competing with Coles Myer stablemate Kmart and Woolworths Limited's Big W, to a more stylish, up-market, but still value-for-money, alternative to speciality stores. Store fittings and layouts were altered to reflect this change. In 2006 Target appointed Launa Inman as managing director, named Telstra Business Women of the Year in 2003, a result of her achievements as an apparel retail buyer for the company. Her position saw Target's $32 million loss at the end of 2000 into a $68 million profit 18 months later.
Prior to its November 2007 takeover of Coles Group, Wesfarmers stated in August 2007 as one of its options it would consider converting some Kmart stores to the Target brand.
In November 2011, Dene Rogers, the former chief executive of North American retailer Sears Canada, replaced Launa Inman as Target's managing director.
In April 2013, Stuart Machin, the former Deputy of Coles, replaced Dene Rogers as Target's managing director.
Read more about this topic: Target Australia
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