I should likely preface this to say this isn’t an explicit defense of that chain of stores and that I am as Polish-American as a pierogi. So…, super 
.
On a recent trip there for some reasonably priced clothes 1 the overall vibe kinda set in. You pick up a coffee2, grab a cart, and just wander through the aisles looking at the basic colors and neat little things. What this is effectively creating is a “sanitized” version of a Farmer’s Market or Flea Market.
The years of wastes composed of manicured lawns and bloodthirsty stroads, paired with decades of neoliberalism and nuclear family focus has left people wanting. People are spread out, alienated, and rarely if ever get the feeling of a third space or place to wander without spending money. While money is certainly being spent on Target, in a weird way I can see how it tickles a small part of the brain when you’re out replacing a jacked-up appliance or grabbing some school supplies for your kid.
Maybe you could argue this goes as far back as the enclosure movement or that the only time it felt pronounced was within the past 50 years or so, but it’s a weird flocking spot for those clearly experiencing an emptiness or lack3. This is a case to maybe feel less anger and more pity4.
- Finally affording better than the Ace Hardware jeans, baby!
- Though I won’t cause I’m not a Zionist and I’m picky enough that I own a 1 pound roasting drum.
- I think I’m using this right.
- Though I also know people who have worked Target and some of those suburbanites can only get off if they made some teenage worker cry.
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I go to target to buy some nice things Some nicknacks for the home I leave with a basket full of candles And live laugh love pillows Alas, my desire extends beyond these things I thought would fill that wantThis reminds me of an idea I had: communist shopping malls. Less consumerism, and more of what made malls fun back in the day. Free theater, arcade, food court, and collectively owned shops. And it would all be vapor wave themed.
this is kinda besides your point but the Target corporation fuckin SUCKS
yes they suck to work for but they also engage in heavy surveillance and cooperation with police, going as far as to track individual shoplifters and not attempt to stop or apprehend them until they have taken enough over time to count as a felony, as well as running their own private crime lab/mass surveillance center that is free for police to use.
A lot was published on this in the wake of the george floyd uprising, as a target in minneapolis was burned and looted in a relatively targeted fashion at the very beginning of the riots. Unicorn Riot has a good little documentary on their racism and local impacts in the minneapolis area…
P.S. Any advice on shrinking that font is welcome. Like, wtf.
uhhh try adding blank lines between each paragraph and getting rid of the -------- line separator
Super appreciated, comrade.
but now it’s all one paragraph
My partner says Target exists to protect the idea that there is such a thing as a middle class. I think that is very insightful. You go there and get a bunch of nice looking things to protect the illusion and it doesn’t hurt too bad.
But I don’t think their clothes are good. Or anything there really, it’s all very poor quality generally, I find I get more actual value out of Meijer or Walmart in this area.
I might be biased cause I like baggy, flowy clothes. Target has allowed me to dress halfway to a druid again. Haven’t been in a Wal-Mart for a while, but Meijer’s stuff is too snug from the stuff I’ve looked at.
