Target focuses on U.S. expansion

Target Corp. said on Wednesday it expects to increase its presence over the next five years to about 2,000 stores in the U.S., and will open its first outlets in Alaska and Hawaii. Target Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Ulrich said in a presentation to analysts that the company remains focused on adding U.S. stores. The company has shown relatively little interest in adding stores in Canada or other locations outside the U.S.

That's in contrast to retailers such as Best Buy Co. Inc., which has a fast-growing Canadian operation and is expanding into China, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which has nearly a third of its 6,700 stores outside the U.S. Target currently has 1,502 stores and said it plans to add about 100 stores per year through 2011.

Ulrich said Target might be interested in buying a large block of Canadian stores if they came on the market, but in the meantime it has lots of room for growth in the U.S. and will focus on that for the time being. He said he believes there's room in the U.S. for at least 3,000 Target stores although he acknowledged that Chief Financial Officer Doug Scovanner thinks the number is closer to 2,500.

"In some of the major emerging economies such as India and China one could argue that it's much better to enter 5 years or 10 years down the road when that guest is becoming more affluent, better educated, because that is more in sync with our strategy," Ulrich said.

(Source: Associated Press)