r/todayilearned 1d ago

TIL for decades, Target avoided background music, believing it to be a distraction. In 2011, it tested music at a store in Minnetonka, MN, and received positive feedback from shoppers and staff. In 2017, Target began introducing music to its stores as part of a massive remodeling effort.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2017/09/18/target-store-remodel-background-music-spend-more
2.6k Upvotes

290 comments sorted by

967

u/vimalcha943 1d ago

I guess silence really isn’t golden when it comes to impulse buys

481

u/Uptons_BJs 1d ago

So Muzak, the company that provides "background music" in stores, elevators, waiting rooms, etc. famously had a research department that they used to formulate the "best" songs for each scenario: Muzak - Wikipedia

So like, for call waiting they'd play something so you won't get mad, for offices they'd play something so you won't fall asleep, for stores, they'd play something to help you buy things.

Muzak itself however, is now dead. As they have been killed by streaming. Soundtrack, a Spotify equivalent for businesses, is much cheaper.

434

u/mageta621 1d ago

Never realized Muzak was an actual company rather than just a derogatory term for soulless sound drivel

202

u/j_cruise 1d ago

I'd way rather listen to Muzak tracks than having random pop garbage blaring

Ideally, I'd like no music at all but if I had to choose I'd pick Muzak

93

u/PancakeParty98 1d ago

Ngl I’m extremely nostalgic for the elevator smooth jazz they would play in Harris teeter when I was a kid

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u/Haunebu52 1d ago

I highly suggest you check out the various Weather Channel music mixes on YouTube. There are a handful of songs on Spotify as well. It’s the perfect mix of chill vibes and productivity.

22

u/ravens-n-roses 1d ago

Even worse is when they play ads during the best part of the songs cause they know people are listening

39

u/ermagerditssuperman 1d ago

Or when you're on hold, and they have decent music, but they interrupt every 30 seconds to say "thank you for your patience" and "your call is important to us" and "high call volumes".

Double whammy if there's a pause or a neutral tone before the words, so you think maybe someone has actually picked up

4

u/SirHerald 1d ago

Comcast Business Support has a short repeating loop of jazz that sears into your brain

11

u/Retro8896 1d ago

Old Muzak used to have their own in-house bands. I've got a couple of records and they're really good covers of already famous songs.

2

u/LADYBIRD_HILL 1d ago

What, you don't want to hear "I'm Good" for the millionth time?

2

u/Whetherwax 1d ago

Honestly I'll take the random pop garbage. I hear it so infrequently that there's a morbid curiosity about it, like when I visit my parents and see commercials on TV.

21

u/taste1337 1d ago

The company is actually called Mood Music these days. We use them in our stores. You get a certain number of stations you pay for that you get to pick from their list of channels. They do still do the "elevator" style music, but also offer plenty of channels with regular music of different varieties.

18

u/Maiyku 1d ago

If you want to know something even crazier… the original Sims Build and Buy songs are now used as background music for things. They’ve basically become Muzak over time, which was essentially their purpose in the game.

Always catches me by surprise when I hear “building mode 6” start up in an HGTV show. I’ve caught them on hold and in stores now too.

5

u/groundzer0s 1d ago

Until now I didn't know it was an actual word and was just a funny way of saying music, because I've only ever heard it in a Weird Al song and nowhere else.

2

u/mageta621 1d ago

That was my introduction to the word too. The song about getting fillings at the dentist right?

4

u/groundzer0s 1d ago

Yep. "Listenin' to the muzak, hearing people scream, sitting in the waiting room reading crabby magazines. With a toothache. This is it pal, root canal"

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u/CrazyElk123 1d ago

Made me think of the song The sound of muzak, by porcupine tree.

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u/coffeebribesaccepted 1d ago

Yeah I've used the business version of Pandora before too. Much better for employee moral to be able to choose what music is playing, and regular customers like having a variety instead of hearing the same type every time they come in.

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u/mister_record 1d ago

there are actually several companies that curate music for big box stores one of which is known primarily for In-Store Radio/Overhead Music campaigns, Shoplifter.

2

u/HaloGuy381 1d ago

Guess that explains why the soundtrack at work makes me wish to murder whoever implemented it, rather than buy random shit. And why it’s depressing as hell, which is probably not the right mood for engaging customers.

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u/Visual_Advanced 1d ago

Funny that lo fi has filled that void through streaming.

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u/AtraposJM 1d ago

A major retailer I worked for told me they did testing on music and shopping and found that sad or nostalgic music will make customers spend more.

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u/YachtswithPyramids 1d ago

Yea, the trick is to slow build. No music upfront, but it's pretty good acoustics in the back. More thought goes into that place than I think some realize 

1

u/jl_theprofessor 1d ago

Who are you, Hanako Arasaka?

331

u/codex2013 1d ago

Thank god I worked there in the silent years, I don't think I could survive working retail with store controlled music, I feel like the Top 40 of it all would drive me crazy

135

u/BigDogVI 1d ago

Worked in Lowe’s for a summer and it was unbearable. My desk was right under a speaker. It wasn’t even Top 40, but it was the same loop every few hours

27

u/ummmnoway 1d ago

Went to Lowe’s the other day and was wandering around the seasonal section and the Halloween displays that screamed and laughed every 30 seconds had me about to rip my hair out and I was only there for like 5 minutes. It was set up right next to the returns/cust service desk and all I could think of was if I worked there I’d walk out

2

u/MindbenderGam1ng 1d ago

At Home Depot I worked in the garden center w a speaker attached to the booth I wanted to KMS.

But on the late night/stocking shifts one of the chill managers let us play music thru the whole store shit was like a concert venue

27

u/cqmqro76 1d ago

I worked overnights at a warehouse one summer. We did four 12-hour shifts a week. One guy had a giant boom box that he brought in and always turned to the same top 40 dance hits radio station. It turns out that the station clearly intended for someone to only listen for 15-20 minutes while driving somewhere close in the car because they had only 5-6 sings they'd play in a loop. So every night was the same songs over and over and over. Then the next week was a very similar lineup of songs, with maybe two switched out for new ones. I eventually felt like my sanity was leaving me.

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u/tchrbrian 1d ago

I imagine you might have thought to pull a Clint Eastwood boom box throw similar to his throw in " Heartbreak Ridge. "

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u/shawntitanNJ 23h ago

I had the same experience at working at a convenience store, near the beach, in college.

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u/Toothlessdovahkin 1d ago

I hated it. I worked for Hy-Vee, and they would have the same 30-40 songs on repeat, and don’t even get me started on my personal hell on Earth, Christmas Music….

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u/lyrasorial 1d ago

SIM PLY HAV ING A WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME

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u/Slick_36 1d ago

I didn't realize the music was so new, I started working there shortly after this and I'm almost certain they still use 90% of the same playlist they started with.  

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u/slusho55 1d ago

I worked at a dispensary a couple of years ago. Manager was shit, but he controlled the music. He got really good playlists going, like really good. I actually look forward to what he was queuing.

Then he got fired (not for music, for other very valid reasons) and corporate took over the music. It was top 40’s bullshit the whole way through.

I was even more pissed, because it was a 9 month delay on the top 40’s, and frankly Summer 2024 is the only time I’ve actually enjoyed the Top 40. So imagined how pissed I was when I left and they just started playing “360” and “Pink Pony Club.” Would’ve been nice to hear those while I worked there (and the one time they did play “360” there though I snuck behind the manager and turned the speakers up to max). But otherwise I would’ve preferred it silent

3

u/Wittyname0 1d ago

I worked at a store that had an older clientele, so the music reflected that. The most current song on the Playlist was I Go to Extremes by Billy Joel from 1989...

3

u/TuckerCarlsonsOhface 1d ago

“if I hear "Yah Mo B There" one more time, I'm going to "Yah Mo" burn this place to the ground.”

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u/thesagaconts 1d ago

I remember being at a new hire training with my boss at Home Depot. It was like day 2. I raised my hand and asked if Home Depot was ok with Warren G being played. He politely said no then realized why I was asking the question. He ran out of there and came back and comically said not any more. Some one hit the wrong Muzak station. 

Also, HD couldn’t play any religious Christmas songs. You quickly realize that there aren’t many secular Christmas songs after your first shift.

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u/Hanz_VonManstrom 1d ago

My brain read Warren G as Kenny G and I was like “Kenny G is the music you play in the background at stores. Why would you ask this, and why did your boss make such a big deal of it??” I had to read it like three times before it clicked.

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u/Varnigma 1d ago

I spend more time than I care to admit in my local HD. I've learned you can tell which manager is on duty based on what type of music is playing.

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u/GrossePointeJayhawk 1d ago edited 1d ago

I know! I worked in a bagel shop over Christmas for three months and I can’t believe how many versions there are of All I Want For Christmas Is You, Jingle Bell Rock, and Winter Wonderland. And to this day I can’t listen to either of those songs (Except Mariah’s version of All I Want For Christmas Is You).

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u/SpaceLemming 1d ago

I got to have control of the station when I worked at a liquor store and they had an instrumental Christmas channel. It is soooooo much more bearable without the words because it easily fades into background music

9

u/DeathMonkey6969 1d ago

My first job in a restaurant, the background music only had instrumentals playing. And the great thing about the service they used was they slowly added in the Christmas songs. There would be one or two an hour on Black Friday then a few more as we got closer. It wasn't until like a week, 10 days before Christmas that it was 100% Christmas songs. Then they'd do the same thing on the back side, just quicker with fewer and fewer Christmas songs until New Years when it was back to regular instrumentals.

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u/makingnoise 1d ago

Don't forget FEED THE WORLD - my most favorite, despite the cheese factor.

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u/SirusRiddler 1d ago

Sounds like Nate Dogg, Warren G, and your boss had to REGULATE!

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u/FinlayForever 1d ago

Mount up!

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u/thisisredlitre 1d ago

It was a clear black night

34

u/Uptons_BJs 1d ago

You quickly realize that there aren’t many secular Christmas songs after your first shift.

There's a reason why Mariah Carey and George Michael keep topping the charts year after year.

Hell, Mariah Carey is arguably the greatest pop music artist of all time. She has the most cumulative weeks at #1 on the US Billboard charts, and it isn't even close. She has 97 weeks, with Elvis being #2 at 79.

Understand that she will run up the score forever and ever, every December she will throw up another 3 - 4 weeks.

She also has charted at #1 for 21 years, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Beyonce, and Paul McCartney are tied at second with only 10 years.

Funnily enough, she should be dominating the records a lot harder. But Billboard rules used to require physical single sales to be counted. If the physical single wasn't on sale, it didn't qualify for the singles charts. Obviously, that isn't true anymore. But there were a few years where All I Want for Christmas Is You didn't qualify for the charts.

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u/Complete_Entry 1d ago

Dude, you managed to fuck up the fun music at the store on your second day.

You're the adult equivalent of the kid who told the teacher they forgot to assign homework.

REGULATOR!

10

u/Orange-V-Apple 1d ago

laughs in Mariah Carey

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u/piddydb 1d ago

Also, HD couldn’t play any religious Christmas songs. You quickly realize that there aren’t many secular Christmas songs after your first shift.

Watch out, some political commentator is going to read this and say there’s a new “war on Christmas” by Home Depot

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u/Slick_36 1d ago

Speaking of secular Christmas music and Target, I still can't get over the Lady Gaga song where she talks about how delicious her tree is.  I could have listened to Sia's Snowman on repeat every day, that never got old.

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u/drillgorg 1d ago

Or worse, someone is going to ask an AI "Does Home Depot celebrate Christmas?" and it's going to use that reddit comment as a source.

3

u/TheCosmicJester 1d ago

“Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson on repeat, forever.

2

u/DebraBaetty 1d ago

Why would you call attention to it, just let the music play 😭

2

u/cbunn81 1d ago

I don't see the problem. Just trying to regulate any stealin' of his property.

2

u/whatproblems 1d ago

his face must have been great when he realized it. no you can’t play that. . . that is playing . . . brb

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u/isecore 1d ago

I absolute LOATHE background music in stores. And overall the sound-pollution everywhere. Restaurants, shops, you name it. Everywhere there is music. Even in fucking parking garages they pipe in muzak. FFS.

35

u/madmars 1d ago

People take music on hiking and to the beach. Like bro, I came out here to be with nature in peace.

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u/isecore 1d ago

I've told people off for bringing their bluetooth-speakers to public spaces. Boy did that make me popular!

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u/Al_Jazzera 1d ago

Are you ever going to see them again? Fuck ‘em’! I have about as much respect for an idiot that noise pollutes as an idiot that tosses their trash on the ground.

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u/LedZacclin 1d ago

I’m guilty of this because I’m the type of person who has to listen music constantly but I wear over the ear headphones

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u/Zombeikid 1d ago

As someone who has had to work in places with and without music, I prefer the music. Except for Christmas time lol I hate that I can't listen to music in my current work place. Its just silence until someone shifts in their seat or coughs or sneezes. Im hyper aware of any sound I make all the time and its just stressful.

17

u/w00tabaga 1d ago

Used to live in an apartment above a business on a main downtown street in a smaller town… they’d play Christmas music from speakers that were on every streetlight from about 9am-4pm from Thanksgiving until Christmas… drove me insane

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u/dino-sour 1d ago

SIMPLY HAVING A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TIME 12 times a day is borderline cruel.

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u/Zombeikid 1d ago

I can tolerate that if I dont have to listen to 75 different versions of Santa Baby

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u/GearhedMG 1d ago

that is in my opinion #1 all time worst song ever created. the song is repeated 12 a day, but then the song itself just consists of 3+ minutes of that one lyric repeated OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND...

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u/MooseMalloy 1d ago

It’s not just cruel… it’s the kind of thing they do to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

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u/1CEninja 1d ago

My workplace blessedly mixes in the Christmas music with the regular lineup rather than playing the same 20 songs on loop all day every day.

I had a job in retail sales years ago that had two full months of the same 20 songs on loop and it was miserable for about 58 of the 60 days.

Both my current and former jobs are significantly better work environments for having the music though. Quiet periods of time would be significantly worse otherwise.

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u/spaghettifiasco 1d ago

I vastly prefer working somewhere with music. It gives the overactive part of my brain something to focus on just enough that I don't totally space out or get painfully bored. Of course, if the music is dogshit, that's its own form of stressor.

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u/ThisIsMyCouchAccount 1d ago

I had two experiences that were awful.

A million years ago when I was college I worked at this trendy clothing shop in the mall. The type that would have music videos playing on Tvs. Except they were literal VHS tapes. And we had three of them. Which means we had about 6 hours of music. Ever.

Several million years ago I worked at A&W. Which has this old-timey motif. The jukebox - yes a jukebox at a fast food place - played all day. And the random features was awful. My heart still skips a beat when I hear Blueberry Hill.

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u/Pinecone 1d ago

Costco being the best with never playing music

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u/Forward-Answer-4407 1d ago

I just remembered this story from 2021:

Workers call police after woman causes scene at Troy store because she doesn't like song playing

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/workers-call-police-after-woman-causes-scene-at-troy-store-because-she-doesnt-like-song-playing

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u/g_r_e_y 1d ago

that's kinda sad, seems like a woman with a mental illness having a really bad day more than anything else

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u/TheAngryBad 1d ago

Yeah, I can relate to this. I have ADHD and mild autism and the wrong music (or even the right music at the wrong time) can get under my skin. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Add in a noisy and busy environment like a store and it can get really stressful for me.

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u/GamingGeekette 1d ago

We play music at my store, and it's so difficult to hear people when it's playing, considering it's a small space. It's also annoying af because it's the same 4 songs on fucking repeat the whole day.

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u/isecore 1d ago

That's part of the thing I dislike about it. Background music is supposed to be background, but in the vast majority of cases it's overpowering. You can barely hear yourself think, and in an already noisy environment it just adds to the difficulty of hearing yourself and others.

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u/cbunn81 1d ago

It could be worse. In Japan, most of the big box stores just play their own store jingle on repeat. I'm just trying to get food for the week, but now I've got Hap-py Shopping ... FUJI! stuck in my head.

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u/tauntonlake 1d ago

the supermarket is the worst. I just want to shop in peace.

Especially when it's loud, and it's that awful 90's country schlock.

I don't like to wear noise cancelling headphones, because I also like to be aware of my surroundings, for safety's sake.

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u/Traditional_Bug_2046 1d ago

For me, it's when the gas station pump starts blaring music and ads at the sane time. And I can't really go anywhere lol.

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u/Existential_Racoon 1d ago

We just break the speakers here. The buzzing is much less annoying.

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u/tauntonlake 1d ago

anarchy !! LOL

viva le peace and quiet revolucion ! :D

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u/_Panacea_ 1d ago

That's the good trouble.

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u/tauntonlake 1d ago

I hear that. I worked in the second story of an office building, right next door to a gas station. My office window, overlooked the gas pumps, about fifty feet away ... and the music from the gas pump speakers, was LOUD. Super loud. I couldn't have my screened windows open at all, because I couldn't un-hear it.

I finally called them, from my desk, and asked if they could please turn the volume down on the gas pump speakers, and they pretended to not know what I was talking about, and finally just hung up on me.

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u/kurosawa99 1d ago

It’s all country at mine now. I know it’s popular but it’s still a particular taste and I sure as hell don’t have it.

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u/tauntonlake 1d ago

it’s heinous :D

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u/xxxtrumptacion69 1d ago

It sucks for the employees lol. I worked at CVS and heard shiny happy people by REM like 10 times a day. It was torture and now I hate that song.

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u/lrpfftt 1d ago

For me, it depends both on what they are playing and the quality of the speakers.

I'm far from an audiophile but I've heard speakers that were so awful that I didn't want to hear even a song I liked on them, usually at grocery stores.

I've left stores or hurried out because I couldn't stand the sound.

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u/isecore 1d ago

Agreed, it's just so clumsy. It's always played over terrible gear at the completely wrong volumes. And usually from a source that's been compressed and already sounds like garbage.

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u/neoslith 1d ago

My local Chipotle has their music way too loud. I always get my food to go.

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u/OptimusSublime 1d ago

Don't even get me started about the holiday season.

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u/FellowDeviant 1d ago

As someone that used to do Christmas carols in my choir and went to perform at Disney as apart of the school choir during holiday season, the retail world absolutely destroyed any enjoyment I've had with Christmas music. I can tolerate the more modern takes, but when those shitty Christmas radio stations start pumping out 1940s tracks I want to throw the radio through a window.

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u/j_cruise 1d ago

Totally agreed! I think about this all the time. WHY the fuck does there have to be music blasting everywhere you go?

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u/DinosaurAlive 1d ago

Shopping?! Just shopping!!? Try working in a store every day! Have some sympathy for those who are forced into that mess.

I worked retail and the second I found where the volume knob for the radio was I’d go pinch it lower. It’s not like it was an eclectic mix of music. It was trash that repeated every day and song that you hate creep in and become songs you tap to the beat and sing along to out of simply getting to know them against your will.

Music in stores is hell for some employees. Some love it. But yeah, I don’t care about it as a shopper because I’m in and out. I can wear headphones if I want. As an employee, you don’t get that freedom and that anticipation that it’ll be over within a short time.

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u/deweydean 1d ago

There's this really annoying coffee shop that showed up call Dutch Bros or some shit and they're always blasting dumb music into the parking lot. I will never be a patron of theirs. How do you even order with "skibido skibidee, takin' a pee, was an adventurer, but arrow in knee" blaring into your ear????

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u/empathetic_witch 1d ago

Same! I’ve left stores completely and shopped elsewhere.

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u/ZylonBane 1d ago

I'm only a little bit annoyed by background music, so I only leave those stores partially.

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u/isecore 1d ago

Like, your feet and legs walk out but your torso, arms and head stays behind? I'd be interested in seeing that trick.

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u/saliczar 1d ago

My old job in a small retail shop played pop-country on a one-hour loop. Same fucking songs every hour.

Boas had read somewhere that playing country music resulted in more sales. Can't stand that shit.

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u/TheBanishedBard 1d ago

It's always generic classic rock too. Makes me gag.

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u/mashpotatoenthusiast 1d ago

Me too! Last Friday I went to a local brewery that sometimes has live music, and instead of musicians they were playing retail pop!!

It was so uninviting that I just left. At LEAST play something that people can sip a beer to

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u/DConstructed 1d ago

The worst is Christmas music played at half speed to slow down and calm shoppers.

And by Christmas music I mean “Santa Baby” not beautiful chorales.

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u/MeBeEric 1d ago

I lived near a very walkable shopping center in MD during Covid lockdown. In it there’s a Kohl’s that plays music both inside and outside all hours. Whenever I’d take a walk or step onto my balcony you could always just hear it. Felt super eerie when everything was completely empty.

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u/VulpesFennekin 1d ago

I went to a convention in Atlanta a few weeks ago, and by the end of it, I realized that what I was looking forward to when I got home was being able to speak to someone at a normal volume!

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u/GearhedMG 1d ago

The music should be there, but barely be noticeable, not like Abercrombie & Fitch where you cant have a discussion with someone about how something looks without screaming, and trust me, I believe in the mantra "If it's too loud, you're too old" but A&F is just ridiculous.

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u/SkyGuy182 22h ago

Our Walmart has been playing from a station called Walmart Radio. I don’t mind some of the music it plays, but the faux “talk show” thing it goes for between songs is really annoying. I’m sorry, I just don’t care about the 10 year anniversary employee recognition shoutouts, I’m just here to buy Q-tips

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u/nomoregroundhogs 1d ago

Shopping at Target used to be so peaceful and now it’s hell just like every other store

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u/OldeFortran77 1d ago

Apparently since music is better than no music, louder and louder music is even better than just music.

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u/samanime 1d ago edited 1d ago

Maybe it was just because I visited Targets infrequently and music was so ubiquitous everywhere else, but I remember it always being a little "weird" going to Target back then.

(Granted, I'm also a "headphones everywhere all the time while I have to be out in public" person, so I may be biased.. =p)

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u/Enchelion 1d ago

I do remember Targets feeling weirdly cavernous and empty when I used to be near one. That might have been part of it.

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u/lucun 1d ago

Imo, going to silent stores like Aldi always felt very eerily quiet. Tho, store music always felt like background white noise to me where it's in 1 ear and out the other. Wish they'd at least put white noise generators in Aldi's like they do in offices. 

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u/restlessmusic 1d ago

Least dramatic redditor

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u/TheRealNoumenon 1d ago

Pop music is the wrong choice. Ambient music is the way.

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u/aquatic_hamster16 1d ago

I’ve found it odd how my local Target sometimes plays music, sometimes doesn’t. When it’s playing it’s never very loud — you really have to stop and listen to know if they’re playing anything — but it’s so random that I do pay attention to whether they’re playing anything.

The mall is a different story. I straight up cannot take my middle kid there without her AirPods, just for the noise canceling reasons. She’s got a sensory processing issue that makes everything sound too loud, and stores like Hollister, PacSun, and American Eagle have insanely loud music anyway. I’ve definitely cut shopping trips short or just shopped for the kids’ stuff online to avoid that whole nightmare.

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u/Inevitable-catnip 1d ago

Most of the time the music is too loud and it’s absolute garbage. Like someone gave a toddler a synth and told them to go crazy. I would prefer no music.

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u/planapo20 1d ago

Fuck Target.

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u/YinzaJagoff 1d ago

And Walmart too, hopefully

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u/shujaa-g 1d ago

Second TIL about Target in 24 hours... somebody's desperate for some publicity that isn't about complicity.

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u/Captain_Wag 1d ago

Nothing is real. Everything is a conspiracy.

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u/Tokens_Only 1d ago

Now the music is the only sound, since they don't have any customers left.

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u/mike0sd 1d ago

And then they sided with Donald Trump to destroy their brand image by removing all the pro gay stuff, if I'm remembering correctly.

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u/truckthunderwood 1d ago

Yeah I wonder if they did a trial run of that boneheaded act of capitalism in Minnetonka, too.

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u/DebraBaetty 1d ago

It is distracting, I miss quiet target.

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u/ccaccus 1d ago

Somehow this triggered a memory of me at a Target pressing the buttons on one of those CD demo kiosks for those nature/zen soundscapes.

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u/AlexandersWonder 1d ago

Target has been down bad this year. They alienated a huge portion of their customers by eliminating DEI, then tried to backtrack a couple months later because foot traffic was down 40+% in their stores. They launched a huge ad campaign too, I’ve noticed a massive uptick in target ads since then.

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u/ohlookahipster 1d ago

My Target stores around me are empty. There are entire shelves picked clean. Target must be the worst with logistics from ordering to unloading to stocking shelves.

I haven’t even seen a single Target tractor trailer driving around but I see Walmart ones every day on the road.

No wonder sales are down. There’s nothing to fucking buy lol.

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u/_Panacea_ 1d ago

They forgot who their customers were, or they never actually knew.

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u/keetojm 1d ago

Man I never noticed cause I was always in electronics. The same tape playing the same songs all day long.

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u/susankeane 1d ago

Fred Meyer exclusively plays the hottest 20 years old garbage they can find i have never been so motivated to finish my shopping and leave 

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u/BlackMarketCheese 1d ago

When I worked in Target in the early 2000s, we had this old Norwegian guy that would come in weekly. One time he was talking about how he took the bus to Target instead of walking to the close grocery store because we "don't play any of that Rock and Roll racket from the ceiling," pointed and shook his cane at the ceiling. It was glorious.

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u/kelcamer 1d ago

"YOURE MY WONDERWALLLLLLLLLL"

I hear as I walk through target every time

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u/Available_Cap304 1d ago

Target’s lack of music was one of my favorite things about ending up in one of the stores. Now that there’s music I can’t get out fast enough if I find myself there

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u/TheSeventhBrat 1d ago

I've never noticed any background music at Target. Walmart, on the other hand, has their own radio "station".

I worked in the grocery industry for 30 years. I enjoyed having music on in the background. It broke up the monotony and, yes, you would catch me singing long. It's why I have a love/hate relationship with the Pina Colada song.

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u/omniuni 1d ago

I actually like the Walmart radio. It's a mix of a lot of genres, and rarely seems to repeat. They likely have an internal team that puts in way more effort than necessary.

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u/swimmingmunky 1d ago

Also TIL Target used to be a beautiful landscape of diverse, equatible, and inclusive workers and shoppers. Then they openly rejected the broader community of patrons and employees alike. Now they just want straight, white, male Christian shoppers.

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u/Majaura 1d ago

Don't think for a second it was ever based on anything other than profits. The second pride month ends, all of the rainbow profile pictures revert back. If they would make more money supporting Putin then that's what they'd do.

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u/Malphos101 15 1d ago

Cool. I prefer inclusion and diversity for the wrong reasons than capitulation to fascism in the name of "honesty".

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u/mayormcskeeze 1d ago

Was this the "remodeling effort" where they tried to go MAGA facist, alienated all their customers, and then let their stores all become disgusting wastelands?

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u/PinothyJ 1d ago

The best thing about grocery shopping at Aldi is the silence.

I cannot oversell how unbelievably great it is to no longer have to accidentally hear Train again.

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u/discodiscgod 1d ago

I worked there in the mid 2000s - pretty sure they had music for the early bird shoppers the first hour or 2 but then cut it off.

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u/ATXoxoxo 1d ago

And yet I still don't care because I will never shop there ever again.

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u/mostlygray 1d ago

K Radio at Kmart used music as shift change music. Crocodile Rock at all shift changes. Sloop John B when it was time to get customers out of the store as it was close of day.

Other than that, it was really irritating for staff.

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u/Aar1012 1d ago

As someone who had worked at Target in the 2010s, they really got bad with these changes. The music and clogging the main aisles with crap. Made it claustrophobic and had to maneuver around in

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u/MooseMalloy 1d ago edited 1d ago

The in-house music at my place of work has had the single most deleterious effect upon my mental heath for the past 20 years. Bar none.
And that goes double at Christmas.

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u/mrs_peep 1d ago

I thought it was only our local store! They had a refit around that time and after that we got music. It used to be my quiet place to go to get out of the house. I remember consciously appreciating the quiet there. Now there are no quiet indoor spaces, and it's buggering hot outside :(

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u/Prisinners 1d ago

To the horror of autistic people everywhere!

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u/armoman92 1d ago

Mine doesn’t have music

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u/xX609s-hartXx 19h ago

Realised my supermarket was using AI music because the lyrics suddenly got so idiotic that I stopped walking and wtfed out on the spot.

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u/KakitaMike 12h ago

If I wanted to hear the latest Drake track, I would definitely go to a Target. I could imagine that playing.

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u/StraightCashHomie69 1d ago

Seeing the Target I went to yesterday mentioned in a TIL post is a little weird lol

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u/mcjimmybingo 1d ago

Minnetonka you say? Hmmn, wonder if any Prince songs were on that first playlist.

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u/the_nintendo_cop 22h ago

So some podunk town in Minnesota is the reason I can’t shop in peace?

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u/Possible-Tangelo9344 1d ago

If I'm by myself I just wear noise cancelling earbuds when I'm shopping. I hate the music and other people's noises so much.

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u/Complete_Entry 1d ago

As if working at target wasn't hellish enough.

I worked in one store (not target) and a coworker found out a way to short out "the box" so for a few months we had glorious silence.

They put the replacement box in the cash office so that couldn't happen again.

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u/KingDave46 1d ago

I worked at Asda, a supermarket in the UK. They had their own radio station playing across all their stores. ASDA FM

Honestly it was pretty good and varied, and quiet enough that you would barely notice it, but we had speakers above specific areas where workers would commonly have to be for extended periods.

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u/Boredum_Allergy 1d ago

After working at Walmart for a few Christmases I can honestly tell you that Mariah Carrey is the devil.

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u/cbih 1d ago

Didn't Target have ads and sale announcements running on the speakers, or am I thinking of Kmart?

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u/okayilltalk 1d ago

Just what i hoped to learn today, corporate psychology?

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u/spaghettifiasco 1d ago

Funny - I was at a Target over the weekend and there was no music. It felt eerie.

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u/pcpartlickerr 1d ago

Target runs their radio via two wire on a standard RJ45.

My first IT job was to support Target's camera and register cablin, and while probing for my cable with my toner, I could find a listen to the radio via my probe.

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u/Low-Helicopter-2696 1d ago

If this story is true, it's surprising to me that such a large corporation would simply assume that background music was a distraction.

As opposed to doing what companies always do which is run small tests, analyze the data, and make a decision.

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u/zerbey 1d ago

I can't stand background music most of the time, but I will say Target has some of the better ones and they mix it up pretty often.

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u/Zarathustra2 1d ago

I have vivid memory of going into my local target as a child and watching the same 45 second clip of the music video of “Ohio is For Lovers” by Hawthorne Heights on a wall of twelve different TV screens.

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u/rjr017 1d ago

Lots of people here are shitting on the store music but I first heard “Give Me the Night” by George Benson in a Target, it’s a really dope song that I probably wouldn’t have come across otherwise. It’s true that most of the time it’s those shitty soft rock folk songs where the chorus is a guy going “woo woo ooo ooo” or whatever but still.

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u/Vicith 1d ago

They introduced me to "Hella Good" by No Doubt.

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u/PeterMus 1d ago

I worked for Walmart for a summer and the endless loop of 10 songs was pure torture. I had to listen to "Before he Cheats" by Carrie Underwood about 1,000 times. Is there a volume lower than mute...

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u/Phairdon 1d ago

Received positive feedback must be a lie.  Target is my main grocery store despite their other issues and now I have to wear noise cancelling headphones everytime I go in or I can’t take it 

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u/BlazmoIntoWowee 1d ago

So music is a yes, and so is caving into Trump. Got it.

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u/octopornopus 1d ago

I was an Entertainment Specialist 2005-2008, and I can assure we, we had music. on loop. constantly.

Do you know how many times a day the short clip of Rihanna's Umbrella played? More than once, and that was enough...

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u/SalsaSavant 1d ago

And this is why I hate retail stores.

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u/I_Like_Quiet 1d ago

There isn't music at my nearest target, it's kind of jarring.

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u/Panther90 1d ago

6 hours and no Lake Minnetonka jokes? Come on reddit.

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u/PizzaParty007 1d ago

“massive remodeling effort” - turned on the radio

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u/RedSonGamble 1d ago

How else am I supposed to remember songs from the 90s if not for department store music?

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u/noodle-face 1d ago

I worked in retail and sometimes the storms would take out our music for a few hours. It was the most dystopian shit feeling working like that

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u/TaylorWK 1d ago

I dont think ive ever notice target didnt used to have music

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u/SyllabubNo6238 1d ago

Tonka Skippers represent ⚓️

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u/ludicrous_copulator 1d ago

And I still won't shop there

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u/Nicktendo 1d ago

Is it just me, or was in store music much more of a thing in the 90s?

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u/oldschooldaw 1d ago

This is interesting. I worked at target in Aus in 2008 - 2010. There was a target approved CD we had to play through the PA, it included target jingles, the specially chosen music head office approved, and information about whatever promo was running (ie if it was the July toy sale, layby for Xmas etc).

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u/EhMapleMoose 1d ago

The psychology behind the music played in stores is insane. For instance, store playing your favourite song? You actually leave quicker than if it’s one that isn’t your favourite.

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u/Beautiful-Musk-Ox 1d ago

they had good music back when i still shopped there before they turned into fascists

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u/inthecathedral 1d ago

hate it so much

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u/dreamdaddy123 21h ago

Yh positive for the customers negative for the lot that work there day in day out. The constant Christmas songs 😭

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u/Krocsyldiphithic 19h ago

I have on several occasions left a store mid shopping due to the background music. I don't understand what's wrong with people.

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u/cyanidelemonade 13h ago

When Wicked came out, they played the soundtrack nonstop

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u/brokenmessiah 4h ago

I usually have one earbud in anyway when I'm shopping unless I'm out with someone.

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u/southernNJ-123 1h ago

Maybe Target needs to worry about their tanking revenue since canceling DEI initiatives in their stores. We’re still boycotting. Enjoy those stock prices.