Two daughters of the man who helped build Target into a national retail powerhouse criticized the company’s decision to do away with its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies in the wake of the election of President Donald Trump.
Anne and Lucy Dayton, whose father Bruce Dayton and his four brothers expanded their family-owned Minneapolis-based department store and turned it into what is today known as Target, penned a letter to the editor of both the Los Angeles Times and Financial Times on Thursday decrying the change.
“As members of the Dayton family, we are shocked and dismayed by Target’s rollback of its Racial Equity Action and Change and Supplier Diversity programs,” the Dayton daughters wrote.
The Daytons, who have zero influence in how the company is run, wrote that their father and uncles “transformed a family department store into the national retailer it is today” with work that was “based on a clear set of principles.”
“They were excellence, a ‘customer is always right’ mantra and a commitment to the well-being of their community,” they wrote.
The two sisters wrote that they were “alarmed how quickly the business community has given in to the current administration’s retaliatory threats.”
“It is not ‘illegal’ for a company to create a business model based on what it believes to be important ethical and business standards,” they wrote.
Accusing the company of “cowering,” the Daytons wrote that Target was “undermining the very principles that have made their companies a success.”
The Post has sought comment from Target.
Last month, Target said it is “concluding its three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals” and will stop its reports to the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, according to an internal memo obtained by The Post.
The Minneapolis-based retailer also said it was ending a program that promoted products from black- and minority-owned businesses.
The company, which has gained a reputation in recent years for its corporate “wokeness,” has been scaling back its LGBTQ Pride collections after a backlash from outraged customers over gay-themed kids’ clothing hurt sales.
Target was founded in May 1962 as the discount retail division of the Dayton Company, a Minneapolis-based department store chain started up decades earlier by George Draper Dayton.
After Dayton’s passing in 1938, his son, George Nelson Dayton, took on a leadership role in the company until his death in 1950.
George Nelson Dayton’s five sons — Bruce, Donald, Wallace, Kenneth and Douglas — then took control of the company. Under their stewardship, they created Target, the discount retail division of the Dayton Company.
Seven years later, Dayton Company merged with the Hudson Corporation — the Detroit-based department store — to form a retail conglomerate that dominated the Midwest.
While the Dayton Company played a crucial role in shaping Target’s early success, the family’s influence gradually diminished as the company grew and transitioned into a publicly traded corporation.
By the time the Dayton-Hudson Corporation rebranded as Target Corporation in 2000, the family had already stepped away from executive leadership.
Although some members of the Dayton family may still hold shares in Target, they do not have any substantial influence over corporate decisions.
Today, institutional investors such as Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street are the largest stakeholders in the company.
The Dayton family remains a well-known name in Minnesota, primarily due to their philanthropic efforts and business legacy, but they are no longer tied to Target’s leadership or decision-making processes.
Mark Dayton, the brother of Anne and Lucy Dayton, served as the 40th governor of Minnesota from 2011 to 2019. Before becoming governor, he was also a US senator for Minnesota from 2001 to 2007.
Bruce Dayton died in 2015. He was 97.
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