Target layoffs will have ripple effect downtown
Categories: The Economy Sucks
The disappearance of 1,000 Target employees working, shopping, and playing in downtown Minneapolis will surely have a ripple effect in the long run, local analysts say.
The cuts at Target amount to one-third of the total layoffs downtown in the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of 2009, according to the Downtown Journal. Target is still the largest downtown employer.
A story in the Downtown Journal looked at what the elimination of 600 employees and 400 open positions means for Minneapolis.
Downtown Council President Sam Grabarski said these employees will be missed in the downtown economy:
"All employers are not equal in terms of their spending habits and their demographics," he said. "And Target employees were better paid and much more oriented toward enjoying Downtown, so it certainly would have some impact."Downtown workers account for 55 percent of all shopping activity there, so the 1,000 missing shoppers will likely cause changes in the spending habits in the area. The cuts will also lead to a 5 percent traffic decrease in skyway traffic on the blocks surrounding their headquarters, a skyway traffic consultant says.
Read the full story here.
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