January has to be my least favorite month along with February.The weather alone is miserable, cold, and gray with an air of boredom mixed in.So when the sun was shining I decided a short road trip to the East Windsor Target was on the agenda.Although I was not affected by the credit card breach, I wanted to take a look at the impact on Target - TGT - store traffic.The parking lot was near normal as we approached around 12:30 in the afternoon.So far nothing was amiss,another typical Saturday looked to be in order.Once in the store usual browsing and chatter were taking place.Pre-conceived notions of an empty store were shattered as people went about their shopping tasks.Target's stock fell 2.38 last week based on the credit card debacle.Based on what I saw today this problem will be a short- term situation because people are limited in their options of where they shop.What is too say Wal Mart may next fall victim to cyber criminals along with other retailers.Target has a solid fanbase that will eventually get around the anger they recently felt.A larger problem looms as customers do more shopping online.Crowds of yesteryear will fade in the collective memories as stores deal with this new reality.One thing I have observed is the large amount of people taking camera photos of items on display.Watch for this development in the future as it will impact the employment picture.The direct result of more breaches in the system will result in less foot traffic in the shops.Retail employs vast amounts of people who can ill afford to be unemployed once again.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.