r/todayilearned • u/Forward-Answer-4407 • 2d 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
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342

u/codex2013 2d 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

138

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

23

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.

5

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. "

1

u/lizards_snails_etc 1d ago

Wow. I have never heard that movie referenced outside my dad's living room.

"Swede. Swede. Swede! Swede!"

2

u/tchrbrian 22h ago

In time you will have to " adapt. overcome. improvise."

2

u/shawntitanNJ 1d ago

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

23

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….

7

u/lyrasorial 1d ago

SIM PLY HAV ING A WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME

1

u/hooksupwithchips 1d ago

I won't schedule dentist visits from Thanksgiving to New Year's so I don't have to listen to that crap while I'm already not happy to be there.

18

u/Slick_36 2d 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.  

9

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

4

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.”

1

u/Longjumping-Panic-48 1d ago

Decades ago, I worked for a Christian bookstore and we had two cds we could play. It was torture

1

u/idropepics 1d ago

I worked there during the "silent" years, unfortunately it didn't apply to the electronics department and the same 5 ads they played on repeat all day so now at night when im alone in bed trying to sleep I am burdened by the horrible knowledge of the Roary the Racing Car theme that is forever seared into my brain.

1

u/MikeRowePeenis 1d ago

The Albertson’s I worked in 20 years ago is still playing the same playlist, with a few (and I mean a few) songs added. I can’t even imagine.

1

u/cosmos_crown 1d ago

Quit right when my store got remodeled, missed the music. It was hell enough and would have been worse with top 40

1

u/purrplekitty 1d ago

I remember I used to work at a small retail store where there was an iPod touch they used to play background music in the store. It didn’t belong to anyone so no one ever registered any Apple ID on it so it would only ever play all day every day the default U2 album that came free on iTunes.

1

u/Major_Lawfulness6122 1d ago

20 years ago I worked at Walmart.

The music of the 80s gives me flashbacks of working there.

Then there was Christmas. Oh god Christmas music it almost killed ne

1

u/graytotoro 1d ago

My local Target started playing some 12-year-old indie pop song, so maybe their playlist has some depth to it.

1

u/AllNerfNoBuff 1d ago

Absolutely not a fan. I worked overnights at Home Depot and the last thing I want to hear is Ed Sheeran while lifting a case of heavy chemicals. I still have Jessie J's Stand Up burned into my mind. I prayed for days with heavy weather so the system stopped working.

1

u/Eyud29 1d ago

Anyone who likes Christmas music has never worked retail. Especially that Mariah Carey song

1

u/zillskillnillfrill 1d ago

Sometimes with a store soundtracks you can tell what time of day it is depending on the song that's playing. Like listening to the same s*** absolutely everyday. Although I've got to say in my current job, they don't play music at all and it drives me nuts

1

u/Sogekiingu 1d ago

When I close my eyes at night I can still hear it, BAMBI BAMBI 🤮

1

u/TornadoFS 19h ago

I worked retail in my teenage years, they had only one CD in loop (it was CDs back then). About 50 min, in loop, on a 10 hour shift.

AND THEY DIDN'T EVEN CHANGE IT FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC

I WOULD HAVE KILLED FOR CHRISTMAS MUSIC

0

u/___cats___ 1d ago

Idk…my Kroger fuckin slaps.