As reported by MarketWatch, Target announced this past Friday that it had acquired the outdoor furniture and gardening company Smith & Hawken. In 2009, Smith & Hawken's parent company, the Scotts Company, announced that it would liquidate the 56-store chain after failing to find a buyer for the brand.
In a press release, Target also revealed a new spokeswoman in the ever lovely Giada De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis will lend her name and expertise to a line of cookware as well as specialty food items such as sauces and coffees.
A recent strategy of Target's has been to court usually unaffordable designers for affordable product lines. Both Smith & Hawken's and Giada's products have in the past fallen into the category of less reasonably priced, so I look forward to seeing what Target does with them.
This is a happy day for you! I too will look forward to my next trip to Target! Do they have Target in Japan?
No Target stores in Japan. Apparently there's a retailer in Australia that licenses the name and logo, but other than that, Target is an American-only institution.