The Political Insider recently reported on plummeting sales at Target retail stores due to their controversial transgender bathroom policy.
As Kosar writes, “It’s clear that the massive number of people who are furious about their [inclusive] bathroom policy has hurt them financially.”
How much has it hurt them? This chart, courtesy of Market Watch, tells the story.
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The higher yellow line and dot reveal the date, April 19, of Target’s announcement that the company would allow employees and customers “to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity.” The price per share of the stock on that day was close to $85.
The lower yellow line and dot show where the stock stood in mid-May. The share price was just below $65, representing a 20-point drop. It has since rebounded slightly, but nowhere near its value at the time of its touchy-feely announcement.
Not only is Target in a tailspin over a massive boycott of its stores, but the company’s chief competitor — the chain liberals love to hate — has seen its sale surge over the same period. I am referring, of course, to Walmart.
Check out this sales report:
The world’s largest retailer ringing in a beat on both its top and bottom lines for the first quarter. Same-store sales grew by a better-than-expected 1% as the company kept costs under control.
A business columnist at the New York Post explores the reason behind Walmart’s sales exceeding expectations:
Walmart flushed its critics on Thursday.
During a cycle of dismal retail earnings, the largest US retailer reported first quarter profits and sales that beat Wall Street expectations — pushing the stock up 9.3 percent in morning trading.
The better-than-expected performance comes after a New York satellite data company observed greater car traffic in Walmart parking lots across the country late in the first quarter.
The increased car traffic came after Target, a rival discount chain, took a controversial position on the use of its bathrooms and fitting rooms by transgender customers.
Prior to the bathroom controversy, Walmart’s sales gains lagged behind Target’s on average by 1%, noted Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough.
Since the downturn, Target has been spinning the news furiously. As a reality-challenged Tommy Christopher writes at Mediaite, the Target CEO claims his stores have “not seen a material or measurable impact on our business.”
Christopher calls it “good news for those who favor inclusion.”
We call it “quality fiction for those trying to put women and children at risk in favor of PC policies.”
Target’s sales are plunging while Walmart’s are surging. All over changing a bathroom policy that had worked fine for many years prior to the Obama era.
Kosar writes, “Target and their shareholders will have to decide if they would rather make money or be “politically correct.”
They had better decide before it’s too late.
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession
