It's quite odd to see these new aisle markers right next to classic(ish) Target neon! I can't imagine there are a lot of stores left where you can see this sort of thing -- there probably weren't ever all that many, honestly, and I wouldn't be surprised if all of them have remodeled to full P17 by now.
Ha, when I think of classic Target neon, it isn't the 2000s era neon that I think of! Instead, I think of the 1990s neon which was much more colorful. In some ways, the 2000s era decor focused more on Target's classic red color than the 1990s decor and that 2000s era decor came at a time when Target was really making a name for themselves as the 'cheap chic' store as compared to the 1990s when Target really didn't have a distinctive niche other than being somewhere in between Wal-Mart and Kmart. So, with that, I can see why some people might prefer the 2000s era decor.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I remember the 1980s when Target's decor was a little less eye-catching than in the 1990s and 2000s. In some ways, the modern boring decor kind of returns to that, but the 1980s had more red and wasn't as boring. Plus, they had the graph paper arrows! Link: https://houstonhistoricretail.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Target_1988-227x300.jpg
Of course, I'm not sure if you're old enough to remember any Target decor before the 2000s, but you probably do have some experience seeing the 1990s neon.
A bit off topic, but I was at my local Randall's today and I saw a sale sign in the meat department which had the Tom Thumb logo on it and their 'DFW's (Dallas-Ft. Worth) Grocer Since 1948' slogan. I guess that would be like you seeing a Vons logo at a Seattle Safeway! Granted, the Dallas division of Albertsons does run Randall's these days and they have similar sales/ads so maybe it isn't too shocking of a mistake. The rest of the sale signs were correct that I could tell.
Yeah, there's no question that the colorful neon is the true classic! I just really like the look of P04. And I love those 80s arrows, even if their wall decor was pretty boring all the way until the P97 era! (P97 is most likely the oldest Target decor I ever saw in person -- if I did see any of the earlier packages, they clearly weren't interesting enough to make an impression on me.)
DeleteOops! Yeah, I've seen stuff like that (including Vons and Pavilions logos) in the past -- Safeway has never seemed all that good at keeping their brands separate.