Target: for homesickness

Have you ever moved away from a place or spent a longish-period of time away from your hometown? Have you found yourself looking for places, people, and activities that you remind you of home? I plead guilty. And perhaps unsurprisingly coming from a Minnesotan, the easiest way to get a fix of home is to go to Target.

If you don’t know, Minnesota is the birthplace of Target. The first store (located just 3.7 miles from our house in Saint Paul) opened in 1962, in the suburb of Roseville. Target was the brainchild of the Dayton Company which brought Dayton’s, possibly the finest department store that has ever existed, to Minnesota. The family also gave us our previous Governor, Mark Dayton, but that’s another topic! Given its roots in higher fashion and more expensive goods, it’s no surprise that discounter Target specializes in design details and feels miles away from its competitor Walmart.

Target stores in San Antonio are smaller and Super Target is hard to come by. According to Google maps there are 13 Target locations in Bexar County which is home to 1.986 million people. In Hennepin and Ramsey Counties, combined population of 1.81 million there are 24 stores–almost doubling the number in the San Antonio area.

It’s when I pass the sports apparel aisle that I realize I am not in fact in my hometown Target. No Vikings, Loons, Wild, Gophers or Twins jerseys. Instead it’s the Cowboys (so.much.Cowboys), UTSA, Spurs. Fewer people at the check out line with the Red Cards loaded into their electronic wallet. Less of a chance that you’ll run into a neighbor, co-worker or friend. Either way, the old Bullseye gives this Minnesotan a momentary sense of closeness to her distant homeland!