FIPS UNDERCOVER: Target, Atlantic Center Mall [The Seventh Level of Hell]
Erica | Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:06AM
This is part one of our four part series in which we attempt to uncover, once and for all, why the hell Target at the Atlantic Center Mall sucks a big dick.
(see part TWO here)
We double dawg dare you to try to conjure up a more poorly run, haphazardly stocked, woefully understaffed shit show of a retail establishment...a-n-y-w-h-e-r-e. Brownstoner wondered if the big box retailer's empty shelves over the holiday season signified the end of the global recession!
HAAAAAHHHH!
The only thing that shit signified was: Saturday.
Even if you can dig back into the deepest, darkest, furthest reaches of your mind to come up with a more fucked up store, it won't fly...cause dudez! This is Target! Tar-jay!
You're supposed to walk into Target, anywhere, and know exactly what you're getting. This place always looks like downtown Baghdad post Bush/Cheney special sauce bombz.
So here's what went down: we hauled our asses into the store on a typical Saturday afternoon and documented what we saw (and no, it was not pretty). I asked as many Target employees as I could find, one simple question: where are the duvet covers?
Hilarity ensued.
Please note: we have not manipulated or "reused" video in any way here (except to blur out faces). We shot endless rows of empty aisles and did not simply recycle shots of one poorly stocked aisle. This place actually sucks this hard.
Stay tuned for Part 2 next week!
Target, Video, business gripes 
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Reader Comments (59)
hahaha.
It is definitely worse there on the weekends, but there's no excuse for that many empty shelves
You are awesome! That place truly pisses me off!! My husband and I were there to buy a TV with some gift cards we got for our wedding, last summer. The guy took our order, and told us to come back in 20. When we showed back up, expecting our TV to be waiting, we found the ass left. He just LEFT work and didn't get our TV or tell anyone else to... Yet, no one cares that he provided the rudest customer service ever. It's what they do, right? I can't wait to see the next parts to come!
If there was a Pulitzer Prize given out for blogs, FIPS would get it. This is GENIUS. After this four part series, could you please visit the Pathmark across the street?
The Home Depot in BedStuy makes the Atlantic Center Target feel like Harrods.
YES! YES! YES!
I always hoped somebody would do an expose on this place. Kudos to you. Sensational work!
ok. seriously-- you guys are bringing it! and I love it. Who would have thought "Investigative Reporting" !!!!! Amazing.
I've had a few miserable experiences at this Target. It's true that it has never been fully stocked and the employees are beyond useless. Last time I was there I was told that "Target does not carry iPods." and that "Boots is a line Target designed to compete with high-end department stores." - both are big fat lies!
thank god someone else is complaining about it. i've been bitching and moaning about the brooklyn target for years! i've even sent many letter/complaints in to the company offices. they don't seem to want to hear it. i'm telling you, the place is like world war three. rationing on the shelves. fights breaking out left and right. it's miserable! keep up the good work. maybe your videos will spark some change!
Between the lack of product and all the Firetrap/Happyland Qualities of Atlantic Center Target I've been considering switching to the new one..Triangle Junction or something like that.
I once so a man cold cock his wife in Atlantic Center while trying to find Recycling Garbage Bags...Can't say I blame him I couldn't find them either.
I am a white, middle class, educated professional in my forties. WTF is a duvet cover?
(That question was selected to confuse the staff, no doubt.)
Let me ask you a serious question: what does it matter if the Target store in Atlantic Center sucks?
I mean, how many of us say "I've got some serious shopping to do, I've got to get me over to the Target store in Atlantic Center!"? And, how many of us, in the market for a sexy duvet cover say "f.ck Bed, Bath and Beyond, f.ck Land's End, f.ck Marshall's...I'm headed for the Target Store in Atlantic Center, home of the bitchinest duvet covers this side of the Playboy Mansion!"?
Not withstanding the praise heaped upon you by the above commenters, ain't you got better things to do?
The most ridiculous experience I've had at this sorry-ass Target is as follows:
Me: Excuse me, do you know where the silverware is?
Target employee: Um. [long, puzzled pause] We don't have that.
Me: Really? Are you sure??
Target employee: Yup.
Me: [walking away, miffed, then finding silverware just a short aisle away] Um, sir? Just so you know, it's right here.
Target employee: Oh. [pissed] You didn't SAY spoons and forks.
Not only is this Target bereft of goods, but some of its employees are bereft of mental goods. Must you drive me to shop at Walmart, Target, must you?!
Well alot of those empty shelves were from new "transitions". Meaning they are getting rid of old product and bringing in new stuff and they have gotten the aisles ready or are in the proccess of doing so.
I cant speak for the idiots who work there though.
Two words:
Dog Food
I have yet to find a place in Brooklyn with a better price on the dog food I need than this Target. It is $6 a bag cheaper than in my shitty Met Food around the corner from my apartment. If it were not for dog food I would have no reason to visit this sorry store.
Over Christmas vacation I visited a Target in New Jersey and I can see why the store is popular but the Target we are treated to in Brooklyn is a pale shadow of what it should be.
a-hah-ahaha-haha. how dumb are those employees. hahahaha. too funny...let's make a video about how they don't know what a DUVET is. sooo funny. tooo funny.
jerk.
Hey dog food guy: support your local pet store owners. There are several fine pet stores in the Slope. They'll deliver to your home. You'll find most are owned by hard-working immigrants (mostly from Arab countries). Pay an extra two bucks per bag, plus a tip for the delivery kid and you'll save yourself the heartache of empty shelves at Target. I don't get why you would want to schlepp over to Atlantic Center, a pig sty of a place, to save a few bucks.
Oh, and there's also petco.com
This is nothing compared to the horrifying downtown Macy's. Please, please, please go to Macy's next!
Jeez, just ask for bedding. If you tried this little experiment at Macy's Herald Square, you would get the same outcome. That Target is not that big. Any idiot can find the bedding department there. I bought my duvet cover there 3 years ago and It rocks.
As for the empty shelves, I agree, but I would never go near that place on a weekend. You're just asking for trouble.
The entire Atlantic Mall is a pigsty and a nightmare. Everywhere else in America, shopping malls are designed to replace the old town square... bu this slopshop was designed to do exactly the opposite: it was designed to keep people from congregating! Racism? Perhaps.
"why the hell Target at the Atlantic Center Mall sucks a big dick."
Why? Spend 30 seconds at the checkout area. Look at the customers, then look at the staff.
End of story!
My most ridiculous experience at the Atlantic Center Target:
There was some form of poop on the second floor just as you get off the escalator. Someone then unknowingly ran their cart/stroller through it, tracking it across many aisles.
When one woman accidentally stepped in it and said, "Oh my god, there's poop on my shoe!" A second woman then proceeded to yell at her, saying "Calm the fuck down. It's just poop."
To their credit, 2-3 Target employees congregated and it was cleaned up a few minutes later. Pretty speedy service...but there still was shit on the floor...
All poop aside, I have always loved Targets and everything they have to offer, but this one is a massive disappointment and I just wish it could be better. I still shop there, and will continue to shop there, but I don't think it's too much to ask for there to be a trash can on the shelves when I go looking for one.
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i'm amazed at how often they are out of stock on the basics. sadly enough when i was at a target in tampa, i purchased some aluminum foil to bring back with me because because i would rather pay $2 for it than $8 (at the MET).
Perhaps it would've made more sense to simply ask for the bedding section/department. I'm not trying to say that the entire Atlantic Center doesn't suck (because it really does), but customer service at NYC area big-box stores is universally abysmal compared to other parts of the country. Here, you're lucky if the staff makes eye contact or grunts at you.
Regarding "Duvet"....that is kinda rigged. I mean if you had asked about a "bed spread" or a "comforter" they would have probably nailed it.
Regarding "Silverware"....don't be obtuse, the system has been broken in Brooklyn for a long time, just because you moved into PS or one of the surrounding neighborhoods in the last little bit and grew up with money(and I mean any money) you shouldn't forget how fucked the ppl living there have been for how many generations, the system has let a lot of people down(and yes I am for personal responsibility, but think how bad school sucked for you and you probably didn't have it bad at all...much less in a 80's-90's brooklyn PS...and yes I do believe what kind of support systems you have socially, educationally, etc growing up affect your ongoing life and your outlook)....I mean its not like that person went out of their way to not understand what "silverware" means...but it ought to be an indicator to you where they are coming from.
Regarding the employees....do you have any idea what they get paid to deal with that hell hole everyday? I mean, I am a believer in being good to your customers and being pleasant, but thats just got to get to you after a while. Also, I have had some very nice people help me out there.
Finally regarding it being a shit hole: OH GOD YES. I cannot believe that place is like that. I'm not for conspiracies....but that place really makes me think there is a plot against non-whites(the main shoppers at that particular Target). Talk about ass end of everything....if they even have it. Target ought to be ashamed at not providing more support to the managers and employees at that store so that they might in turn get that store running better and provide customers with a better experience.