Target — Local services in Kelso

This target location is, frankly, a joke. Let me preface this by saying that this is not hourly team members' fault, they have always been very friendly and helpful when I've come in, despite there not being enough of them, as is standard in retail these days. They really are doing their best.

Store management & corporate level, however, clearly don't make any real effort to compete with the stores around them in the area on any sort of pricing, and the store itself is both very small and very empty.

Products are merchandised almost randomly, and the whole place seems like it is riddled with availability issues. They also don't seem to know their market. Kelso is a very drunk town with few grocery options and they have only four feet of beer fridge, a few overpriced wine & liquor options, and little to no food. Most people just go to the safeway next door for a reason (it being a well stocked if poorly priced & poorly ran ran grocery store with like 96ft of beer fridge plus gigantic wine and liquor selection)

They really could make more money, I know it, if they capitalized on their location right next to the I-5 and within easy walking/dashing through the rain distance of the Tesla charging station. I get the feeling they want to avoid the working class crowd that comes on foot from south Kelso, I suspect the more affluent and kind of desperate customer off the I-5 is their bread & butter, but if their district level management decided to make the Kelso store more of a priority I know they could be a real competitor to Safeway, Walmart, & Fred Meyer.

There is a lot of local Kelso market potential in the form of people who don't want to drive all the way to walmart for GM goods or good deals on a 12 pack of beer, and people who are brand loyal to target for groceries and home consumables, they just need to seize these opportunities with better availability and wider product offerings & better messaging.

With Kelso becoming a more walkable town every year, I am surprised that Target Kelso isn't embracing the actually existing local customer base with everyday low prices, and instead choosing to rely on ever-dwindling traffic from the I-5 into the so-called "dying" Three Rivers Mall for its...

Good luck with Will on the front end at this Target store. I’m a long time shopper here and it seems that he makes up whatever policy suits him best at whatever time he would like. The level of unprofessionalism is absolutely astonishing. There is a policy in place that only allows you to buy 5 packages of cards at a time. My son and I came in (we are both avid collectors) and were excited because there were cards in stock. I grabbed 5 boxes and he grabbed 5 boxes. Will came over and informed us we collectively could only grab 5. That is not the policy. The CORPORATE POLICY (not dictated by Front-end-Will) is 5 per guest. It is printed and on display. I told him we are 2 guests very clearly and he let me know “when I’m working, if you walk in at the same time, you are 1 guest. It keeps you resellers from buying everything.” I let him know we are 2 collectors, 2 SEPARATE GUESTS and we are excited when there is inventory. He said “well, you can come back tomorrow if you want.” He then told me he would put the other 5 back. He took only 2 specific boxes, left the other 3 behind and put them somewhere different than their place. Clearly, Will was interested in buying them or had a friend that was I’m assuming. I have ran in to a few different people like him in different stores, for all kinds of policy related stuff and it’s always abundantly clear that they have no business in customer facing roles. Corporate policies are just that, policies. They are rules that are implemented by the company and to be followed by consumers and employees. Sometimes a little power (lol) goes to peoples head. Hopefully people like him can leave their personal takes on things at the door when they get to work in order to retain good customers in the future. You managed to thwart the bad guys today Will, good...

Today I had my worst shopping experience since the pandemic began at Target. Two customers were shopping without masks and when I asked the first shopper to put a mask on, the woman said, I can't make her. A nearby employee said the same thing. I asked another male shopper to put a mask on and he said no thank you. Another nearby employee said there was nothing they could do about it. I spoke to the acting store manager and she said they can't make anyone where a face covering. This is so not true. Other places of business are enforcing state and local health guidelines. Target near Longview, WA simply doesn't care about their customers and their staff. Staff working there should request a pay raise and other people should talk to the manager about putting your community at risk. There are online and pickup delivery options and the CDC says there are no acceptable reasons for no face covering. I think word is out in this community you can just say you don't want to wear a mask or that you have a health problem and you can do whatever you want. These two people did not have health issues and even if they did, there are options. My only posiive experience was the checker who didn't appreciate people thinking they were above the rules. Target should be ashamed of their lack of care for their staff, customers...