Target Corporation Reports July Sales Results

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) today reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended August 1, 2009 were $4,418 million, a decrease of 3.2 percent from $4,566 million for the four weeks ended August 2, 2008. On this same basis, July comparable-store sales decreased 6.5 percent.

“While our sales remain challenging, we continue to experience favorable gross margin performance within categories and disciplined expense control in our retail segment, as well as modestly improving risk trends in our credit card segment.”

“July comparable-store sales performance was in line with our expectation for the month,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Target Corporation. “While our sales remain challenging, we continue to experience favorable gross margin performance within categories and disciplined expense control in our retail segment, as well as modestly improving risk trends in our credit card segment.”

	Sales	Total Sales	Comparable Stores % Change
	(millions)	% Change	This Year	Last Year
July	$4,418	(3.2)	(6.5)	(1.2)
Quarter-to-date	$14,567	(2.7)	(6.2)	(0.4)
Year-to-date	$28,928	(1.2)	(5.0)	(0.6)

Target’s current sales disclosure practice includes a sales recording on the day of the monthly sales release. Consistent with this practice, a new message was recorded earlier today. The next sales recording is expected to be issued on Thursday, September 3, 2009. These recordings may be accessed by calling 612-761-6500.

Target Corporation's retail segment includes large general merchandise and food discount stores and Target.com, a fully integrated on-line business. In addition, the company operates a credit card segment that offers branded proprietary and Visa credit card products. The company currently operates 1,719 Target stores in 49 states.

Target Corporation news releases are available at www.target.com.