- Target can trace its retail lineage back to the dawn of the 20th century.
- Its founder was a businessman named George Dayton.
- Dayton initially made a foray into the dry goods game, only to pivot to the department store business.
- By the 1960s, however, the Dayton Company was looking to experiment with a discount chain.
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The first ever Target store was opened in 1962, but its predecessor first came on the scene 60 years prior.
Target's website offers curious shoppers an entire timeline of its history as a company. The business was founded by a New Yorker named George Dayton who dabbled in banking and real estate before making his mark in the world of department stores.
The Dayton Company, as the founder's venture came to be called, continued to operate as a family-owned retailer for years. The changing world of retail in the 1950s and 1960s, however, would offer the company a chance to take a chance on a brand new discounting format.
Check out what Target looked like through the ages, from the days of Dayton's department stores to the first Target stores on the scene in the 1960s: