Target’s January Sales Rise 3.6% on 0.5% Comps Growth

Target Corporation reported net retail sales for the four weeks ended Jan. 30, 2010 were $4.29 billion, an increase of 3.6% from $4.14 billion for the four weeks ended Jan. 31, 2009. On this same basis, January comparable-store sales increased 0.5%.

Our January comparable-store sales were in line with our expectations, as lower clearance sales held back our year-over-year growth, said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Target Corporation. We experienced strong guest traffic in January, and comparable-store sales in both our apparel and home categories were positive for the month. We believe these trends, combined with very clean inventories, position Target to continue to gain market share profitably in the challenging environment we expect in 2010.