Target August sales up 3.4%

MINNEAPOLIS Target reported that its net retail sales for the four weeks ended Aug. 28 were $5.023 billion, an increase of 3.4% from $4.856 billion for the four weeks ended Aug. 29, 2009. On this same basis, August comparable-store sales increased 1.8%.

“August sales were in line with expectations,” said Gregg Steinhafel, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Target. “We’re pleased with our strong performance in back-to-school and back-to-college categories, as well as our performance in apparel and food. Guest traffic trends remained healthy throughout the month. These results demonstrate the resilience of our strategy and our ability to deliver on both sides of our ‘Expect More. Pay Less.’ brand promise.”