Target — Local services in Town of Hempstead

I went to this target in Valley Stream New York today 9/19/20 at about 1-200 pm. I had a most distressing experience and want to warn other shoppers of what may happen to them. I bought $31.82 worth of mostly groceries and exited the store about 2 pm. I bought coffee from Starbucks and since there is no seating allowed my sister and I, both elderly , sat on a metal bench right near the front entrance. There was a long line of potential shoppers lined up in front of us waiting to enter the store. Our carts were adjacent to us on the bench. The line of people and others milling about obscured our view of the carts. After about 10 minutes as we got up , I saw to my dismay that although her cart was there , mine was not. I had my groceries in a Target branded shopping bag placed in the child seat of my cart. If a person just wanted the cart ( which there were other carts available ) he/she could not miss the shopping bag right there. I went to the security guard who was rather indifferent to my plight and didn’t seem to want to do anything to assist me.my sister and I did check out other carts in the vicinity all to no avail. I returned to the store and spoke to a manager who did not seem concerned that a theft right in front of the store on store property was any problem for Target. He opined that once I left the store I was responsible for my own items. When I asked to at least file an official complaint he informed me I could call the police on my own. Which I did. The police officer told me he would view the store video surveillance and if it showed a theft ( there were many people standing around us so it wasn’t necessarily going to show anything on the tape) he could report as a theft but if the tape wasn’t clear then he could only report it as a suspected theft. I understood this but am upset that Target takes no responsibility for not having enough security to forestall thievery. The presence of crowds of people trying to enter the store obscuring views also seems to me to be Target’s partial responsibility as well. Just be FOREWARN! There are thieves about in Green Acres and Target especially and Target takes no responsibility for allowing this to happen . Be careful with your bought items at Target . Be mindful of your surroundings and know there are people who look for shoppers who might make a momentary lapse in judgment to take advantage of them. And most Importantly dont look for Target to assist you if you are a victim of thievery...

I go to this Target once every year or two. Nothing ever changes.

I needed a pillow, and I came to Target because I knew they have bins with different types of pillows. And I got my pillow.

It took me about three times longer than it should have to choose a pillow. Just like the rest of the store, the pillow pins were mixed up, with some price labels missing from the shelves, and the pillows all shuffled up, so you have to confirm everything you pick up to see if it matches with the description and price on the shelf label, assuming the price label on the shelf isn't missing. I had to memorize what the different pillows were as I looked at them, because the lack of organization on the bins and shelves was too lacking to be of help keeping them all straight.

As I walk around, it seems like almost every shelf in the whole store is like that. Everything is in the correct department, but no one ever goes through to make the shelves neat. I wonder if one of the managers said, "We neatened everything up once, so then if the customers messed everything up, it's their problem." Sorry Target; that's retail, and regardless of the mess we make, it remains your responsibility to keep your shelves neat. Otherwise, shopping becomes an extra-complex chore. If you got the time to hunt through the messes on the shelves to see what your choices are and try to compare to see if you want one of their items, then you're good; everyone needs a hobby. I'm just saying it would be easier and faster to shop and select items if they were organized neatly, lined up nicely, etc.

Even Walmart on the other side of Green Acres has better organized shelves, even with their crowds. I just didn't know if they have pillows.

It would be interesting to find out if all Targets are disorganized messes, or just this location.

I'm not a good enough shopper to say how their prices compare.

The parking lot is a little bit like spaghetti. You can't go too far straight before you hit a concrete curb and have to turn. Although the lot is only the size of a postage stamp, you have to turn a few times to get into or out of it. In the case of one forced turn, the next forced turn occurs in 3 feet. The forced turns and general arrangement of the lot has to be rearranged. I've never seen the lot filled, so they could afford to make the spaces a little bigger. And if it ever did fill up, there is massive quantities of overflow parking a few...

I was there on a Saturday in late July at 1pm. When I went to go checkout, there were only 3 open cashiers. I had 16 items, so I had to wait, self checkout now has a limit. They had an employee direct the long line of customers to the 3 open registers. I was directed to a line and ended up behind two women who had a ton of items in one cart. Of course, a couple items didn't have tags so the cashier had to call for help. I have never seen workers move so slowly. After what felt like an eternity, I gave up. I did something I rarely ever do. As I walked over to the self-checkout, I took out 6 non-perishable items from my cart and put them on various shelves and displays I passed so I could get down to 10 items. 3 cashiers on a Saturday afternoon? At a CVS you can hear the cashiers call for backup when they get busy. Where was the backup at Target? If the Target manager ever sees this, the two women ahead of me in line had a large item under their cart which was never scanned. Their almost emptied cart was moved around to be filled up with the scanned items! Maybe the cashier spotted it, but it was under the cart and quickly blocked by the scanned items placed in the cart. I have seen workers check receipts by the door, but not in a while. They had so many items, I can't imagine anyone being able to check to see if it was on the receipt! The only thing good about that trip to Target was that as I walked out, I could see the register where I had been waiting, with the same two women still trying to finish!! God help the customers who tried to wait it out! Of the 3 cashiers, only one was young and robust enough to do that kind of work. I felt sorry as I waited. Two of them looked physically shot and were "too mature" for that type of repetitiveness. The employee who was directing the customers should have changed places! I have shopped there for years, I hope they can fix some of these problems! One last bit to complete my experience. I encountered a customer who was waiting for a worker to show up and open a locked display cabinet. She was waiting so long she started yelling out loud, and threatening "to break open the case!" That's when 2 workers showed up. That system has been terrible. Going there has become a bit of an adventure, and not at all...