Target and Costco

I got my Target fix this past weekend by popping over to the Target in Woodhill. The store has 5 or 6 aisles with signs that read "Big Savings" and a ton of the kind of multipack items you'd find at Costco. In fact, there was some kind of outdoor furniture set for sale that was indeed Costco brand.

Could this mean that Target and Costco have some kind of partnership? Will these aisles be a regular thing at our local Target? How awesome would that be considering we don't have Costco in this town?

Final note is that they also had Ed Hardy handbags ("Sick" -- see Ed Hardy Boyz on FunnyorDie.com for reference) and Polo shirts. Whaaa?

Suggestion for Target

Thanks to a conversation I had with SB last night about the quality of Target clothing, I remembered the other suggestion I was thinking of recently, this time for Target.

I think it's great that Target gets guest designers for apparel, shoes and handbags, but when it comes to handbags, they are always plastic. And I'm not talking the nice vegan plastic, usually it's the obvi-not-leather plastic. A while ago they featured Rafe for Target. Hello, I love Rafe as most of you know. But plastic? That's a not so much. Right now it's Botkier for Target. Although they have one metallic bag that isn't obviously pleather (see image below), most of them are a disappointment.



Which brings me to my latest idea: why not have at least one bag in the collection that is leather? I would pay, and I'm sure others would pay, $100 to $150 for a [INSERT GOOD BRAND HERE] for Target leather bag. I might even pay more if they marketed it right, and if there's one thing I don't doubt, it's that Target knows how to get me - and a whole heck of a lot of other people - to buy.

What's In a Commercial?

Somehow, our TV is programmed right now to display the words that are being recited when the "mute" function is turned on. I'm not sure if this is called Closed-Captioned or subtitled, but I think you know what I'm referring to.

The point that has me so fascinated is that apparently only certain corporations opt to have their commercials (or "spots" as my husband in the ad industry likes to say) display the words if they're on mute. Please note that I am referring to the television you receive for free here in NYC when you plug your box into the wall, not TiVo or some DVRness - just plain old network television (ah, Network - see that movie, please).

Here are the companies I've noticed tonight that pay extra - I assume - to have you read exactly what they're saying to you, Y-O-U.

McDonald's
Subway (ie: the sanwiches)
Dunkin Donuts
Target.

It's the last one on the list that has me writing this posting ce nuit. As you know, I love me some Target. But I was able to read the "lyrics" to the "song" in the most recent Target commercial and I was taken aback. Forget subliminal, it might as well be saying, "buy, buy, buy now, spend."
Does the Target have some bewitching power over me that I simply do not realize? And here I was thinking I just chose the Target on my own, that the powerful red and the bullseye logo and the recruiting of the designers had nothing to do with it.