Target and Walmart, Turning 50, Gear Up for Canadian Showdown

Fifty years ago, some kind of discount-retail god must have looked down upon America. Target, Walmart, and Kmart all established their first stores in 1962 and now they’re all finding ways to celebrate.

Walmart has rolled out a special website with a countdown clock to its 50th anniversary on July 2nd. Target celebrates its 50th year on May 1st, half a century after the Dayton Company opened its first Target-branded discount store in Roseville, Minnesota. (Of course, they’re all toddlers compared with JCPenney, which turns 110 this year.)

Of course this isn’t the only way these two retailers will be clashing heads. Target is spending part of this year prepping to make its launch in Canada in 2013, a market that Walmart has had its stamp on for nearly two decades. Target will be opening 125 to 135 stores, but Walmart is hoping to dampen the party.Continue reading...