Target (Australia)

Target Australia Pty Ltd

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Retail
Founded	1926 as Empororama 1968 as Lindsay's 1973 as Target.
Headquarters	Geelong, VIC, Australia
Number of locations	308+
Key people	Guy Russo (CEO of Target and Kmart & Managing Director - Target)
Revenue	A$ 3.5 billion (2016)
Operating income	A$ -195 million (2016)
Total assets	A$ 1.7 billion (2016)
Number of employees	16,000+
Parent	Wesfarmers Group
Website	Target.com.au

Target Australia Pty Ltd (formerly Empororama and Lindsay's) is a mid-price department store chain and Australia's largest (by store number), owned by Wesfarmers. It operates 183 Target stores and 125 Target Country stores across Australia making 308 combined stores with its national store support office located in North Geelong, Victoria. An established and well known retailer, the company sells branded clothing, cosmetics, toys, homewares, electrical, fitness and consumer electronics. In 1968, Target Australia, then known as Lindsay’s Target Pty Ltd., adopted the Target name. Despite the similar logo, name and type of outlets, there is no corporate connection to Target in the United States, nor has there ever been one. The reason the United States and Australia can both have Target stores despite having no connection to each other is that trademark law is not international but is on a country-by-country basis.

In December 2016, Wesfarmers confirmed Target will move to a new headquarters to be built in Williams Landing in Melbourne's western suburbs in late 2018, following the announcement of the closure of the Geelong facility in April 2016.

In 1926, George Lindsay and Alex McKenzie opened their first store in Geelong selling dress fabrics, manchester and furnishings, and progressively established stores in Victoria, maintaining the policy "Half the Profit, Twice the Turnover". In 1968 Myer Emporium Ltd purchased the chain of 14 stores with the idea of re-inventing the chain as a "discount department store", with the company subsequently renamed Lindsay's Target Pty Ltd. In March 1973, it was renamed Target Australia Pty Ltd. By 1982, Myer was operating 27 stores under the Target brand, but sold these, principally to Coles.

In August 1985, Myer Emporium Ltd and GJ Coles & Coy Ltd merged to become Coles Myer Limited. In 1996, Coles Myer merged the Target and Fosseys brands, and their first specialty store Baby Target was established. Then in 1998, their second speciality store, Target Home opened. Fosseys stores were later renamed Target Country, becoming the third speciality store under the Target name.