Approximately 90 employees have been affected by the Trotwood store’s closing, according to Evan Lapiska, Target spokesman.
The store is closing despite a community-wide protest that resulted in both hard copy and online petitions with approximately 2,550 signatures total. Plus, Trotwood City Manager Michael Lucking and Trotwood Mayor Joyce Sutton Cameron traveled to Target headquarters in Minnesota to personally share the city’s disappointment over the closing.
“We knew we were up against a big corporation … This has been an effort to try and pull the community together, and we’ve done that,”said Martha Clark, a Trotwood resident who organized the petitions through the Keep Target in Trotwood Campaign. “I don’t think Target expected any feedback from the community.”
The store’s departure demonstrates just how fragile the retail business is, according to Lucking.
“It just reinforces to the community how important it is, not only for the community, for shoppers to support the stores that are located in their city or near them,” Lucking said. “If there is a positive that comes from this, it’s made people realize that they need to shop their local establishments.”
Clark agrees with Lucking. That’s why she, along with city officials and others, have started targeting businesses in the city to patronize. It’s a new movement called Trotwood Restaurant Raid. The movement includes other types of businesses, according to Lucking.
“We’re turning this into something really positive for our community,” Clark said.
“What this event has done is its really galvanized at least a portion of the community to realize that where they spend their dollars and how they spend their dollars affects whether retail stays or leaves their community,” Lucking said. “We need to demonstrate our support not through our voice but through our pocketbooks.”
The group is asking the community to join them from 7 to 10 p.m. today at Taqueria Mixteca, 2190 Shiloh Springs Road, for the restaurant’s Cinco De Mayo Celebration.
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