Target Stores
Sunday, 14th August 2005 by James Turnbull
One of the most recognized corporate symbols in the United States is that of the Target corporation, who have 1,351 stores in 47 of the 50 states.
Of those 1,351 stores we've found three which have a giant Target painted on the roof, all of which are unsurprisingly located near major international airports (not air force bases, because that would be silly ;-)).
The first target store is in Rosemont (with the Allstate Arena just to the south) and lies in the flight paths to O'Hare International Airport.
Our second target is in Queens, New York City and is just east of La Guardia Airport.
Another store in Everett, a suburb of Boston, just west of Logan International Airport.
And lastly we zip across to Australia for this target, which I assumed was advertising for the benefit of those landing at Brisbane Airport but I was wrong, as noted in the comments by Neil…
The Target store is used as a reporting point for the Archerfiled aerodrome, which is to the West. The Target represents the entry point for aircraft entering the Archerfiled control zone from the East, and has nothing to do with the Brisbane Airport, which is to the North.
Although very similar looking the Target chain of Australia is actually a completely separate company to the U.S. version.
Thanks to the target spotting talent of Dan Hartung, Steve, El Warren, Mark, Kári Tulinius, Dann, Jason, Derek DYsart, dan_the_stud, Dave D, Ryan Toyota, Brian, Keith T, Erik Nygren, Infinity, Lee Bennett, Louis Koziarz, Eric Doherty, Carol & rascalking.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy defines the marketing division of the Target Corporation as ‘a bunch of mindless jerks who’ll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes,’ with a footnote to the effect that the editors would welcome applications from anyone interested in taking over the post of commercial correspondent.
Curiously enough, an edition of the Encyclopaedia Galactica that had the good fortune to fall through a time warp from a thousand years in the future defined the marketing division of the Target Corporation as ‘a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.’
Immediately to the south of the Target in Queens you can see the largely overgrown remnants of Flushing Airport. A few old hangars are visible at maximum zoom. Flushing Airport was a general-aviation airport closed in the 1980’s due to its proximity to LaGuardia. Frequent flooding of the site has made its redevelopment uneconomic.
Here is a site with more information: http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/FLUSHING%20AIRPORT/flush.html
The first location is actually located in ROSEMONT, IL – not Everett. Come to think of it, there isn’t even a city called Everett in the area.
Whoever was shooting at the Target in Queens has trouble hitting the bullseye.
Funny, because the one to the north of Boston is in a town called Everett.
The Target store in Queensland Australia is used as a reporting point for the Archerfiled aerodrome, which is to the West of the store. The aerodrome is here View Placemark
The Target represents the entry point for aircraft entering the Archerfiled control zone from the East, and has nothing to do with the Brisnabe Airport, which is to the North.
anybody understand the whole ad campaign? LOL what’s up with that dog? About as nutty as the OLD NAVY commercials.
Thanks for the corrections Carol, rascalking & Neil, I’ve updated the post.
With appoligies to all, the first Target store is in Roseville, MN (technically it was the basement of the now-marshall fields building in Minneapolis).
It’s at ~2000 Snelling Ave North, Roseville, MN 55113.
This isn’t Target, but Ontario Mills Mall, on approach to Ontario International Airpot in Ontario, CA.
This is the site of a Target (my wife and I visited this Target the last time we were in that area) near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, but in the Google photograph, the site is under construction. Therefore, I don’t know if there is a Target logo on the roof or not.
This Target, just south of Washington (D.C.) National Airport, used to have a logo on the roof but it has since been painted over. You can faintly see the logo in the image on terraserver.com.
Just north you can see the disused train bridges over Four Mile Run from when the Target area was still Potomac Yard.
We know now where to drop the bombs…
Now that Las Vegas is high res (in Google Earth at least), the casinos need to paint ads on their roofs. Their roofs are rather plain and don’t even tell you what hotel/casino it is.
Check out this on using sat images for marketing….
http://www.sitecreations.com/blog/2005/12/local-live-birds-eye-optimization.html
… yes it’s a joke.
I am planning to put my web address ( http://www.mini4x4.net ) in giant letters in the Idaho desert, I will spell it out with lava rocks and will put the outline of one of my trucks with the address as well. Ill have info on the site soon.
Don’t put your business name on your roof, instead write GOOGLE SUX real big on your roof, then when they take the pictures again it will raise so much buzz people when want to know the company that did it.
Make sure you take pictures of your staff painting it on and periodically leak those to the web during your one week of fame. I already proposed it to my boss and they shot it down, so I’m letting everyone else know about my idea.
I saw this idea and decided to run with it. Place your own ads on the google map at http://www.virtualtrespassing.com. I’m calling the concept of placing a virtual billboard and blogging about it Virtual Trespassing. I’m sure it’s just another stupid idea.
There IS a bulls-eye on top of the Target store near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia…..but the photo on Google EArth doesn’t show the shopping center, only the construction site. My BF lived near that completed shopping center, and I used to look for the Target as my flights to Atlanta were landing 🙂