Goodfellow & Co. at Target
When Target set out to create an all-new modern menswear collection, the process returned the retailer to its roots. Goodfellow & Co. launches Sunday (it's already on full display in the Nicollet Mall store). The new in-house label—designed to lure fashion conscious men on a budget from J.Crew, Topshop, and the like—takes its name from R.S. Goodfellow & Co., George Draper Dayton’s original dry goods business. Founded in 1878 with a six story building at Nicollet Avenue and Seventh Street, Goodfellow’s evolved into Dayton’s in 1903, and in then in 1962, Dayton’s created Target, which outlived the department store to become the nation’s second largest discount retailer. None of the many Dayton descendants are directly involved in Target Corp. today, but the Goodfellow name remained a property of the Daytons until recently, when Target acquired the rights.
Last fall, Target execs presented plans for the Goodfellow & Co. brand to around 50 members of the Dayton family, who gather in Minneapolis twice a year for family business.
“It was universally well received by the family,” says Eric Dayton, the great great grandson of George Draper Dayton, and co-founder of North Loop men’s store Askov Finlayson as well as neighboring Bachelor Farmer restaurant and café. He’s also the most recent Dayton to work for Target Corp., having logged two years early in his career before business school. “There’s a real sense of pride in our family for what Target has become. We’re rooting for its continued success as just about anyone in Minnesota is.”
TOM SCHIRMACHER
Goodfellow & Co. is one of four new brands launching this fall at Target, and several more are in the works. A modern women’s collection called A New Day hits stores Sunday along with Goodfellow. They will replace longstanding Target brands Merona and Mossimo, which are being phased out—the same way children’s brand Cat & Jack took the place of the less-hip Cherokee and Circo. Target will also introduce a new athletic line this fall called JoyLab, and a modern home décor collection called Project 62—a reference to 1962, the year Target opened its very first store, in Roseville.
“Researching names for each line is a very long process,” says Target spokeswoman Jessica Carlson. Goodfellow is a name that came up early in the process, and stuck. “It’s a really cool connection, and we’re so proud to hold up that history.”
Target seems increasingly enthusiastic about playing up heritage as a differentiator. A mural inside the newly renovated Nicollet Mall store next to Target headquarters in downtown Minneapolis incorporates elements of this company’s history, including a Dayton’s shopping bag. Amazon and Wal-Mart don’t have more than a century of retail history, nor those department store roots, to call upon. “It’s something Target is uniquely positioned to do,” Dayton says. “I’m glad to see they’re making the most of it.”
Mural within the newly renovated Target Nicollet Mall store in downtown Minneapolis.
Target CEO Brian Cornell has been on the job just three years, but in that time he's shown an interest and respect for the company's roots. Cornell had the chance to meet Eric Dayton’s grandfather, Bruce Dayton, who ran Dayton Hudson Corp. for many years, before his death in 2015.
“It means a lot to me that Brian developed a relationship with my grandfather. That connection is something we consider to be special. We still get people coming in (to Askov Finlayson) talking about how they miss Dayton’s. I think that’s why there are special feelings about Target,” Dayton says. “My grandfather was not particularly nostalgic, he was first and foremost a business person. But history always stays part of who you are.”
Twin Cities Business Editor-in-Chief Dale Kurschner contributed to this report. Read more on Target's reinvention plans at tcbmag.com.
