Target sales drop in 1st quarter

Target’s challenge to revive sales and its status as a cheap chic retailer just got more complicated.

The discounter announced on Wednesday that sales fell more than expected in the first quarter, and the retailer warned they will slip for all of 2025 year as its customers, worried over the impact of tariffs and the economy, pull back on spending.

Target also said customer boycotts did some damage during the latest quarter.

The company, long a fierce corporate advocate for the rights of Black and LGBTQ+ people, scaled back many diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in January after they came under attack by conservative activists and the White House.

Target’s retreat created another backlash, with more customers angered by the retailer’s reduction of LGBTQ+-themed merchandise for Pride Month in June of 2023.

Canton company fined $11M

Rhode Island’s top legal chief announced a Massachusetts construction company has agreed to pay $11 million to settle criminal charges that it illegally dumped thousands of tons of contaminated fill in the Ocean State’s Capitol city during a highway construction project.

According to Attorney General Peter Neronha’s office, Barletta Heavy Division Inc. of Canton not only violated state law when it disposed the contaminated fill in Rhode Island but also “deceived state regulators” when pressed about the source of the fill.

Neronha filed state criminal charges against Barletta in early 2023.

— The Associated Press