Store that hit fashion bullseye

Target’s corporate affairs manager Lynn Semjaniv remembers the days when people used to cut the labels from Target clothing. “The store was affectionately known with that French pronunciation – Targé – and people were sometimes a little embarrassed to buy their clothes there,” she recalls. “But things have changed a lot – we are now very much a mid-market department store.”

With 25,000 staff nationwide, Target is Australia’s top children’s wear retailer and regularly stocks designer clothes and homewares especially produced for the store (such as Collette Dinnigan and Jenny Kee).

Geelong is Target’s emotional and physical home. It all began in 1925 in Geelong, Victoria with the vision of one man: George Lindsay. Together with Alex McKenzie, he launched a number of stores with product ranges including dress fabrics, manchester and furnishings.

By 1968, Lindsay & McKenzie Pty Ltd had grown to 14 small stores around Victoria. Myer Emporium Ltd bought the business and the result was Lindsay’s Target Pty Ltd. In March 1973 it became Target Australia Pty Ltd, and, in August 1985, the Myer Emporium Ltd and GJ Coles & Coy Ltd merged, becoming Coles Myer Ltd.

In 1996 Fosseys and Target merged, and in 1999, Fosseys stores were converted into Target Country. In late 2006, the group name changed to Coles Group Ltd and in November 2007, Target was acquired by Wesfarmers as part of the Wesfarmers acquisition of Coles Group Ltd. Throughout the mergers over the past 40 years there has been a deliberate decision to keep the national office in North Geelong, Ms Semjaniv says. There are 280 Target and Target Country stores in Australia.

“We have a lot of history here and we use our unique location to attract the best people,” she says. “Geelong offers a great lifestyle close to the beach and the bush with world-class educational opportunities in an affordable city.”

In addition to head office, Geelong has two Target outlets – Westfield Geelong and Waurn Ponds. About 1200 staff work in the three centres, including 800 at the head office.

Ms Semjaniv says nearly 80 percent of employees in the national office live in the Geelong area which includes Lara, Torquay, Bannockburn, Winchelsea and the Bellarine Peninsula. She lives on hilly acreage just 10 minutes from work. “I love that I have this idyllic rural lifestyle but a corporate job,” she says. “Once people move here they realise just how much the region has to offer. Of course, many employees live in Melbourne or the western suburbs and are less than 45 minutes away.”

Many Target employees – both at the national office and in the stores – start as casual and parttime staff (as did Ms Semjaniv at the Waurn Ponds store as a student 22 years ago). The company is keen for such staff to enjoy their time at Target and consider making their career at the company.

“More and more we’re encouraging our casual team members to recognise that retailing can be a career,” she says. “High-potential team members or those wishing to pursue a career with us are supported to achieve their goals.”

Ms Semjaniv emphasises that careers at Target are not just in retail – a big company means diverse career opportunities, including finance, human resources, marketing, IT, design and, of course, buying.

Target’s Business Manager Childrenswear, Anna Milner, 46, grew up in Geelong and worked at Target while still at secondary school. Then, while Ms Milner was studying for a diploma in fashion design at Geelong’s Gordon Institute, a guest speaker discussed fashion buying as a career. “I immediately knew that was what I wanted to do,” Ms Milner says. “I started as a trainee manager at Target at Hoppers Crossing and my career progressed from there.”

Although she lived in Melbourne for five years early in her career, Ms Milner was lured back to Geelong by the flexible lifestyle, which enabled her to be close to work and her children’s daycare and school. “Geelong is a great lifestyle city – it’s wonderful to be so close to beautiful beaches and still be only an hour from Melbourne,” Ms Milner says.

Today, her role involves managing clothing and hard goods buyers in her business group. “We need to travel to Europe and the United States to see fashion ideas for the coming seasons,” she says. “Then we develop our styles, put our ranges together and outsource the production to China or to local suppliers if possible. We’re number one in children’s wear.”

Ms Milner says she particularly likes the regional feel of the national office. “When I look around at the staff, there are a high proportion of Geelong people – so many families have somebody who works for Target and there are second-generation Target staff.

“In many retail businesses people come and go all the time, but it’s a different culture here – people stay and they wouldn’t stay if they weren’t enjoying it.”