Not even back-to-school season and multiple promotions brought Target’s foot traffic back

Target’s foot traffic continues to dwindle with the big box giant experiencing one its worst weeks during back-to-school season.

After one of the biggest annual retail seasons, back-to-school shopping, Target’s foot traffic still has yet to bounce back.  

According to new data by Placer.ai, the retailer experienced one of its worst weekly declines in seven weeks, when, during the week of August 25 (including Labor Day weekend), foot traffic dropped by 4.6%, Fortune reported. Leading up to that, the big box giant’s year-over-year foot traffic fell in August by 3.3%. 

Target hoped that the back-to-school season, which historically has outperformed other major periods, would be its comeback. To bolster its chances, the store launched multiple campaigns, deals for teachers, storewide sales, and special “must-have” back-to-school baskets with items priced at less than $20. Despite the tariffs, it also vowed to keep prices on essential items the same as last year’s stickers. 

What’s made matters worse for the retailer, already experiencing a widespread boycott after it rolled back its DEI initiatives in January, is that two different teachers’ unions have also joined the boycott.

On Labor Day, both the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) announced in a release they were joining the boycott against Target over it rolling back some diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts earlier this year. 

“We rarely engage in this type of action, but we’re doing so here because Target betrayed promises to communities of color throughout the United States,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said in the release. “Target rolled back promises to help the people who have been loyal customers, because of a president who is trying to roll back history and ignore the struggle for freedom and justice.”

She added, “Those customers, who have helped Target’s bottom line, now feel set aside, ignored, and dismissed.”

Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union added in a statement titled “Resolution in Support of the Target Boycott and the Fight for Fully Funded Education,” that it “stands in solidarity with the boycott of Target, recognizing the rollback of its DEI initiatives as part of a broader ideological attack on equity—affirming that the fight for just workplaces, schools, and communities are bound together.”