The Science Behind Why Millennial Moms Are So Obsessed With Target

target store
Image: iStock / krblokhin

Does there exist a place in this world better than Target? Highly doubtful. The retailer has exploded in popularity in the last decade, especially among moms. On any given day, you can roam the aisles of Target with your kids in the cart and Starbucks in your cup holder, and see 20 different moms doing the exact same thing. It’s where we go for everything. Groceries? Target has them. Out of diapers? Target, and they’ll autoship them to you! Toys, gifts, decor? Target does it better than anyone. But what’s changed in the last decade? How did Target go from Walmart’s homely cousin to our second home? Millennial moms and Target are an especially good combination. We’ve turned into “our” place, and Target has shown us so much love in return.

The relationship between millennial moms and Target even inspired a meme: Target Mom. We are all Target Mom. We don’t do play dates at the play place anymore – we meet up at Target for lunch in the cafe and some casually browsing. We’ve created entire Instagram accounts dedicated to the treasures we find within those walls. If you spied an amazing throw pillow on IG, it likely came from Target. And it’s likely cheap! Target connects us all, moms from all over the country and world. It’s not just a retailer, not anymore.

One of the things that makes millennial moms and Target such a good combo is that we can get what we want without spending a lot.

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See, we want to look like we spent a million bucks on our outfit or home decor. But we don’t actually want to spend more than like, fifty bucks. Target can make that happen! Of course, no one ever actually leaves Target without spending more than $50, but that’s really just a matter of self-control. In that it requires it, and we don’t have it. But moms are always in the hunt for a bargain, and you can find that at Target without sacrificing style and quality. We can spot a Target outfit from a mile a away, and we will chase down the wearer to get the deets. And when a sweater sells for under twenty bucks, you can treat yourself without the guilt.

Treat yo’self has become sort of a mantra for moms. And there’s no better place to do it than at Target.

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We go to Target to escape and get lost for a little while. It’s hard to stress about the world when Target has their new Wonderland merchandise out before Thanksgiving, you know? We leave the kids at home, and we take ourselves on a little date … to Target. Or we hire a sitter and have an actual date night there! It’s where we escape, and where we can just relax and have some fun. Which is an odd thing to say about a store. But it doesn’t feel like a store. It feels like home! Or what we wish our home could be with an unlimited budget.

Do we need even half the crap we end up buying? No. Absolutely not. We certainly didn’t need that retro ceramic Christmas tree, but it looks real good on the mantle and we have no regrets. It feels good, so we do it. And it doesn’t even feel too bad after. Target connects us. It makes us happy. It’s one part of life that is never crappy, and in times like these, we seriously need that.

Millennial moms and Target are a match made in bulls-eye heaven. Now if you’ll excuse us, we saw the cutest pair of boots on Target’s IG and we need to hop on the app and make those ours.

 

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