One fact that was lost in the reaction to Target’s April 2016 announcement that customers could use bathrooms and fitting rooms of the genders they identify with is that many Target locations already have single-occupancy restrooms available for customers, meaning the gender and genetics of the person using the toilet doesn’t matter because they are the only person in the room. Today, the retailer said it will spend $20 million to make sure that this option is soon available in all 1,800 Target locations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, only around 300 Target stores currently lack a single-occupancy restroom. By November of this year, 277 of those stores will be updated to include this option, while the remaining 20 Target stores will get the single-person bathrooms by March 2017.
The retailer came under fire from some shoppers who were unhappy with Target’s decision to allow transgender women to use restrooms designated for females. The company’s finance chief confirms to the Journal that today’s announcement is indeed a response to these concerns, but maintains that the backlash from these customers has not made a “material impact” on Target’s sales.
This morning, the retailer posted its first decline in same-store sales in two years.
A spokesman for one group opposed to the Target bathroom policy is still displeased with today’s announcement, telling the Journal that the retailer has basically created a “bathroom free-for-all.”
Of course, many smaller stores, restaurants, bars, along with trains and planes, offer the customers only unisex, single-occupancy restrooms without being labeled a free-for-all. Last we checked, many of us also live in houses where people of both genders use the same bathroom during the course of the day.
by Chris Morran via Consumerist
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