Is This the Beginning of the End for Target?

Target Corp. announced last week that it will close a dozen stores in 2018, and the company’s stock remains at just over 60.

The 12 stores, CNBC reported, are spread across Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas, and will close February 3.

For the past year and a half, the American Family Association (AFA, afa.net) has been spreading the word about its highly successful and 1.5 million-signature strong #BoycottTarget initiative, which was a robust response to Target’s dangerous and misguided policy that allows men in women’s fitting rooms and restrooms and puts families at risk.

“Target is making many attempts to entice shoppers, but one move could welcome 1.5 million customers and their families back to stores—reversing the dangerous policy that puts women and girls in danger,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “Voyeurs and predators know that they can gain easy access to their next victims at Target, and that has been proven time and again. As AFA has stated many times, our worries do not stem from fear of the transgender community, but rather, from both the real and potential threat that predators and voyeurs, or anyone with evil intentions, would take advantage of the Target bathroom policy to harm women and children—and we have plenty of incidents to show that they have. It’s not too late to sign AFA’s #BoycottTarget pledge and vow not to shop at Target—neither in store nor online.”

Target has been desperately grasping at ideas to recover lost business, including remodeling existing stores and opening smaller stores, lowering prices, hiring more holiday staff and introducing a new home line from Chip and Joanna Gaines. But Target stock remains relatively stagnant, opening at 61.50 today—certainly nowhere near the mid-80s of April 2016, when the AFA boycott began.

AFA is urging shoppers to take action in several ways to show the retailer they are committed to #BoycottTarget:

• Sign the #BoycottTarget pledge. Encourage family and friends to sign the pledge, too.
• Voice your concerns on Target’s Facebook page.
• Call Target to politely let its executives know you’ve signed the #BoycottTarget pledge—Guest Relations, (800) 440-0680, option 1, then 1 again.
• Share the boycott information on social media and be sure to use #BoycottTarget.
• Visit afa.net/target for more tools and information on the #BoycottTarget initiative.

For more information on American Family Association, visit www.afa.net or follow AFA on Facebook or on Twitter @AmericanFamAssc.