Target’s Sales in 2020 More Than Last 11 Years Combined

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While the economic fallout caused by the pandemic has taken its toll on many businesses in Minnesota, it actually helped Target have a record year in 2020.

In fact, would you believe that Target made more money last year than it ever has before, and more than the last 11 years...combined?!? That's the word from this Associated Press story that says when you add up the profits from Target's four quarterly reports in 2020, profits for the Minneapolis-based retailer were up $15 billion-- which is more than the profits from the last 11 years put together.

Wow. That's a pretty good year. In this CNBC story, Target's CEO, Brian Cornell, said its stores saw "a surge in traffic in our stores and growth across all merchandise categories, from electronics to beauty, in January," the story said, continuing that trend into 2021. And that's on top of already through-the-roof online and digital sales earlier in 2020, as our stay-at-home orders early in 2020 kept many shoppers physically from heading to their stores.

But those shutdowns in 2020 apparently didn't stop us from spending money at Target, though. CNBC reported that Target's comparable digital sales-- the figure that compares sales year to year-- were up by 118% in 2020 compared to 2019. (An INCREASE of 118?!? Now, I'm no economist, but I'd say that was a pretty good percentage increase!) Overall, in-store and online comparable sales for Target were up over 20% compared to 2019.

While it's great that Target is doing well-- they ARE a Minnesota company, after all-- it's a shame that local restaurants and businesses (who don't have anywhere close to the deep pockets Target has to withstand those shutdowns) were so adversely affected by the pandemic. Sadly, many not only didn't have a record 2020 like Target, but many couldn't make it through the year at all. Keep scrolling to take a look at some of the Rochester businesses that shut their doors permanently in 2020.

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