When Was Target Founded? The Real Story Behind Its 1962 Launch

Target was founded in 1962, when its first store opened in Roseville, Minnesota. That's the short answer to when was Target founded, but the full story stretches back further, to a much smaller department store business.

When Was Target Founded: The Short Answer

The retail chain most people know as Target opened its doors on May 1, 1962, in Roseville, a suburb of the Twin Cities. It wasn't a standalone startup. It was a new discount format created by an existing department store company that had been operating in Minnesota for decades.

In practice, that distinction trips up a lot of people searching for this answer, because two different founding dates get mixed together depending on which part of the company's history a source is describing.

When Was Target Founded as a Discount Store?

As a discount retail concept, Target launched in 1962. The plan for the new store format had been announced publicly the year before, in 1961, and the first location opened soon after in Roseville.

Four years later, in 1966, Target opened its first store outside Minnesota, in Denver, Colorado. That expansion pattern, one region first, then a slow push outward, is fairly typical of how regional retailers scaled before national logistics networks made faster rollouts possible.

The Company Behind It: Origins Back to 1902

The business that eventually created Target has roots going back to 1902, when George Dayton became a partner in a Minneapolis dry goods business.

Within a year he owned the company outright and renamed it the Dayton Dry Goods Company, a lineage confirmed in detail according to Wikipedia's history of the company.

By 1911 it was simply the Dayton Company, a department store chain that grew steadily through the first half of the twentieth century. This is the part that gets flattened in casual conversation.

The Dayton Company and Target are related, but they aren't the same founding event. One is a corporate ancestor. The other is the retail brand people actually shop at.

Who Founded Target?

George Dayton and the Dayton Company

George Dayton built the original department store business that later gave rise to Target. His descendants ran the company after him, expanding it through the mid-1900s and eventually opening one of the first shopping malls in the country as suburban retail took off.

The Team That Created the Target Concept

The Target discount format itself came out of a Dayton's executive named Stewart K. Widdess and the team working with him in the early 1960s.

Teams working in retail strategy commonly report that discount formats in this era were built by people already inside a department store company, testing a leaner model, rather than by outside founders starting from zero. That's exactly what happened here.

Why Was It Named Target?

The name was chosen to represent hitting a bullseye, in the sense of getting service and value right. It's a simple idea, and it stuck.

The bullseye logo that came out of that naming decision is now one of the more recognizable retail marks in the country.

Target's Early Expansion Timeline

Some of the more meaningful dates in Target's growth are easier to follow as a list than as a paragraph. In practice, this is the kind of information people scan for rather than read line by line.

How Old Is Target Today?

As of 2026, Target as a retail brand is 64 years old, counting from its 1962 founding. If you count from the original department store business instead, the company's roots go back 124 years, to 1902, a timeline that lines up with the company background as reported by Fortune.

Most people asking about Target's age mean the store they shop at, which puts the number at 64.

Conclusion

Target was founded in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota, growing out of a Minneapolis department store business dating to 1902. The company took its current name, Target Corporation, in 2000.

Frequently Asked Questions

When exactly did the first Target store open?

The first Target store opened on May 1, 1962, in Roseville, Minnesota, according to Target's own company history.

Is Target the same company as Dayton's?

They're connected but not identical. Dayton's was the original department store; Target was a new discount format that same company created in 1962.

Who was Target named after?

Nobody. The name refers to hitting a bullseye in service and pricing, not a person.

When did Dayton-Hudson become Target Corporation?

The name change happened in 2000, after decades of the company operating as Dayton-Hudson Corporation.

How many years has Target been in business?

As of 2026, Target has been operating for 64 years, counting from its 1962 founding as a discount retailer.