Target Is Struggling. We Visited 3 Stores in the US to Find Out Why.

One location in Madison, Wisconsin, serves families from surrounding neighborhoods and students from the nearby University of Wisconsin — two audiences that are Target’s bread and butter.

If the company is going to get any store right, this should be one of them.

Shoppers seemed to be having the kind of experience Target’s execs call the “Tarzhay” effect, where they go in for one essential and walk out with a basket of fun things too.

At a small-format store in Washington, DC, some of the chain’s biggest challenges were on display.

Items like men’s socks, deodorant, and laundry detergent were locked behind glass doors, and when Business Insider tried pressing a call button for access, an employee showed up only about half the time.

During one visit, Business Insider saw a customer wandering around as she looked for an employee who could help her buy a gift card — something that Target’s self-checkout stations can’t sell.

And while most products were in stock, some areas had bare shelves, such as a locked case for Apple accessories and the kitchen appliance department.

The three locations don’t suggest an existential crisis for Target, but the assortment wasn’t especially exciting, and prices weren’t meaningfully better than those at a competitor. Target also recently said it would stop matching prices against any retailer other than itself.

Target has acknowledged its own challenges and announced last quarter the creation of a new enterprise acceleration office headed by its chief operating officer, Michael Fiddelke.

Wednesday’s financial results will mark the first report on Fiddelke’s progress.