“We typically decide to close a store after careful consideration of the long-term financial performance of a particular location, said Stefanie Mohr, a Target spokeswoman, in an email. “Typically, a store is closed as a result of seeing several years of decreasing profitability.”
About 90 Target employees in Trotwood and 80 in Middletown are expected to be impacted by the closings, but they will be given the option of transferring to other stores, according to Mohr.
Derrick Foward, president of the Dayton Unit NAACP, organized the phone conference and said that when companies like Target move out of the community, it causes residents to take their money and go shopping in other areas.
“Our hope is that Target will reconsider their position,” Forward said. “… This is an opportunity for Target to have a good piece of the pie if they were to expand that location.”
An online petition — Target Stores: Keep Target Store in Trotwood, Ohio Open! — was started on change.org following the announcement of the store closings. Dawn Wojcik, a 57-year-old Trotwood resident and one of 1,808 people who have supported the petition, said she was glad city officials and the NAACP representatives were going to speak with Target representatives.
“It gives me hope that we’re not totally powerless,” Wojcik said. “If Target leaves Trotwood, maybe I should go too.”
Trotwood Mayor Joyce Cameron said the city was blindsided by Target’s decision to close the store’s Shiloh Springs Road store.
“We’re doing all we can as a city to get Target to reconsider, however we do understand when corporate decisions are made, they are made based upon corporate needs,” Cameron said.
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