“The decision to close a Target store is not made lightly. We typically decide to close a store after careful consideration of the long-term financial performance of a particular location. Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability,” Mohr said.
All eligible Target staff at these stores will have an option to transfer to nearby stores. This affects 80 team members in Middletown and 90 team members in Trotwood.
Matt Eisenbraun, Middletown’s economic development program manager, said the city did not have any notice of the store closing.
“We had members of our retention team visit with the store in July, and they indicated there were some performance issues, but nothing to this extent,” Eisenbraun said. “There was no indication they were planning to close.”
News of the Middletown’s store closing comes just a day after Marsh Supermarkets of Indianapolis announced it would be closing eight stores nationwide, including the Main Street Market in the Warren County city of Franklin.
Middletown officials said they will work to find what the issues were, but if nothing can be done to prevent Target’s closure, efforts will focus on finding a new use for the property.
“It’s always frustrating to see a company close and have to leave, but I guess if that’s what the performance indicates, there’s not a whole lot we can do unfortunately,” Eisenbraun said.
The parking lot at the Middletown Target was crowded Friday afternoon. Several shoppers said they were shocked and saddened by the news of the impending closure. The nearest Target stores to the Middletown area are located in West Chester, Miami and Fairfield townships.
Sisters Linda Risner, of Middletown, and Shirley Ferris, of Carlisle, were very disappointed, saying it was their Friday tradition to shop there. They called it “Girls Shopping Day.” On Friday, they were joined by Risner’s granddaughter, Kyleigh, 5, who bought a pair of boots.
Risner called the closing “no good” and a sign that Middletown continues to “go down, down.” She said she was surprised because Target offered decent prices.
Ferris called Target “my favorite store” and said she was “very disappointed.”
Ann Mort, a former Middletown city council member, said she had just shopped at Target last week. She said it takes several small retail stores to make up for the financial impact of one major retailer closing.
“I hate to see it,” she said. “We don’t need another empty building.”
The Rev. Jamey Colts, pastor of New Era Baptist Church in Middletown, said he was “saddened” and he hoped the employees could find other jobs. He had hoped Middletown was getting “financially stable,” but after hearing about Target, he isn’t sure.
“This can’t be good news,” he said.
In a last-ditch effort to change the retailer’s mind, Middletown shoppers started an online petition on change.org titled: “Target: Keep Target Middletown Open!” The petition had 200 signatures by Friday evening.
Target has 1,797 stores in the United States and 66 of those stores are in Ohio, according to Mohr said.
Since 2011, Target has closed 22 stores across the country, which includes the eight stores announced Friday.
About the Author
