This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about Tar-Zhay below in the comments.

Have Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) shoppers all of a sudden become French citizens? In the last decade or so, I've heard many, many people refer to the discount retailer as "Tar-Zhay," instead of the boring "Target." Where did that pronunciation come from, you ask?

There are opinions all over on this one, but one strikes me the best. Target, despite its discount niche, has also become a favorite destination for fashion-savvy consumers who might otherwise shop at high-end boutiques -- except for the fact they want a good deal. The French accent is a way of poking good-natured fun at the apparent sophistication of Target's deal-seeking shoppers.

In fact, Target carries much of the same discount, commodity stuff we buy at other retailers, but markets that merchandise in a cheerful and upscale way. The shopping experience, is clean, bright, and cheerful. Just look at the gleaming floors in your local SuperTarget and the white and red colors that make it seem like a test for the senses rather than a dull retailer. Bonjour, Tar-Zhay practically flows off the tongue, as a result.

Earlier this year, chic and expensive retailer Sharper Image was purchased by a chop shop of sorts. A mall store with $5,000 massage chairs and insanely expensive geek gifts just didn't cut it in an age of high gas prices and home foreclosures. So the company, which went bankrupt, had its brand bought by Hilco Organization and Gordon Brothers Group. And guess what? You may see the Sharper Image brand again at you local Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) or Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) store aisles soon.

The Sharper Image brand may soon be pasted onto vacuum cleaners or sunglasses on retail store shelves. As people tend to buy brands as much as actual products, the brand will probably end up being a good investment on the $49 million that was paid to purchase it after the bankruptcy. It's pretty sad that such negative publicity about a single product -- the Ionic Breeze air purifier -- led to Sharper Image's downfall, although I believe there were deeper problems at play. As in, people loved to look at (but not buy) fancy things with grossly inflated prices.

It appears now that we may yet again see the Sharper Image name on infomercials, web sites and catalogs, as well as on some retail shelves. With an expectation of Sharper Image brand sales hitting an annual pace of $1 billion -- up from 2007's $375 million -- it's pretty easy to see why the owners of the now-defunct brand want to revive it. Customers know the brand, they trust it and they would love to see it on their new vacuum cleaner robot.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) implemented another phase of its low-price prescription drug program this week, and as usual competitor Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) followed suit with price reductions of its own. In addition to offering a 30-day supply of many popular generic prescription drugs for $4, Wal-Mart is now offering a 90-day supply for $10. And so is Target.

Is Target just trying to keep up, or does it see a benefit in matching drug price cuts by its larger competitor? In response to the price cuts, Target said that it "understands the challenges guests are facing in the current economic environment." It probably planned to make these price cuts as soon as Wal-Mart did and gain the same kind of free PR that comes with such a drastic price reduction in something that millions of Americans now depend on.

But Target does not position itself as the "low price" leader like Wal-Mart does. Its marketing is more upscale, and so is the appearance of its stores -- even while carrying much of the same merchandise. So why is Target matching these prescription drug price cuts? Is it trying to take customers from Wal-Mart? Of course -- the two are fierce competitors even though marketing and merchandise presentation strategies are what I'd consider to be worlds apart. Sometimes, price is everything.

When longtime Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) CEO Bob Ulrich retires soon, he'll leave behind a very impressive legacy. Target, the second-largest discount retailer in the U.S., has grown alongside its larger competitor Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). While Wal-Mart was opening stores and increasing sales at a blistering pace, Target was no slouch. Even though Wal-Mart grew much faster, Target's strategy worked pretty darn effectively, too.

Target seemed to beat Wal-Mart to the punch on the trends many customers cared about: brand-name clothing, hip marketing, clean and bright stores and very effective marketing and merchandising of its own store-brand product lines. While Wal-Mart became the generic big-box store, Target seemed to be the store shoppers flocked to to stay away from Wal-Mart's lifeless marketing, boring stores and grand-central-station customer traffic. In other words, price isn't everything to every U.S. retailer customer.

Now that Ulrich is retiring, his longtime company sidekick Gregg Steinhafel will be taking over with some lingering challenges that will put him on the hot seat almost immediately. Target is suffering, along with other retailers, from a seemingly-persistent economic slump and from the performance of its credit-card business (which is being hit with defaults due to consumer credit problems nationwide). Although things can be rosy at Target, they aren't for all of its customers at this time. With rising energy prices and the spike in food staple prices recently, Target's store brands like Archer Farms may suffer or need to be priced at the level of brand names -- and then they may lose their appeal to consumers looking for quality alternatives to higher-priced brand names. Steinhafel will have his plate full as he takes over when Ulrich turns 65 --Target's mandated retirement age for the CEO position.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) said this week that it wrote off 8.1% of its internal credit card loans in March. In case you haven't heard, consumers are grappling with record gas prices, rising food prices and the worst housing market in 25 years. As such, consumers are defaulting on more than just mortgage debt from short-sighted loans.

The second-largest discount retailer in the U.S. said that defaults from its own consumer credit line totaled $55.5 million for the month of March alone. In February, Target's annualized credit card balance write-off amount stood at 6.8%, which climbed to 8.1% in March. It's been suggested that Target take a long, hard look at its credit card operations, and the subject comes up every quarterly conference call when analysts continue to scratch their heads on why Target has such visibility to the credit market -- and the deterioration of it throughout 2008.

Target appears to also be in talks with JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) to sell about half of its own credit card operations for about $4 billion, but there is nothing final yet. target also indicated that it had been talking with another potential suitor. In all, Target's credit card operations are worth about $8.3 billion -- a chunk the retailer would better use to build new stores and amplify share buybacks beyond past levels. However, revenue from the retailer's credit card operations is nothing to sneeze at either. For example, the retailer saw profit of $532 million just from its credit card operations along in the fourth quarter of 2007.

When the going gets tough, the CEO gets dropped. At least, that's what happened at retailing giant Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) in 2007. Company CEO Bob Ulrich saw his salary and bonuses reduced by 42% last year as the discount retailer failed to meet sales expectations and saw its stock price decline.

Like many CEOs, Ulrich's compensation is tied to its stock price and to the company's financial performance. Although he received $1.66 million in pay and non-stock compensation of $2.89 million (down from $6.13 million), Ulrich's total compensation dropped 67% in 2007 to $12.2 million.

Sounds like quite a bit to many of us, yes? Target explained that some of Ulrich's stock awards for the year were actually made in previous years and expensed in 2007, which makes up for some of the amount. Target officials were pretty clear about saying, "Our financial results in 2007 fell well short of our goals . . . as a result, non-equity incentive payouts for executive officers were near the low end of the payout range, and long-term performance share award payouts were negatively impacted."

Still, more than $12 million is not a bad payday.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is a retailer that's been known to find and feed customer niches better than any other discount retailer. From its bright store colors to trendy and chic items in several departments, the retailer has shown Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) that it can indeed compete. And, very well.

One of the more interesting product niches that's been explored recently has been higher-end women's cosmetics. When six beauty products rack up a retail bill of more than $200, you know there's something to be celebrated. No longer are Dillard's Inc. (NYSE: DDS) and Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) the exclusive way many women buy those extremely lucrative cosmetic products with the hefty profit margins. Nope, Target's moving into the arena aggressively from all appearances.

Target is now stocking upper-end cosmetic brands like Clarins, Kiehl's, Origins, Bare Escentuals and Bumble and Bumble. Although the retailer's move was studied this past Tuesday, it certainly was no April Fool's joke. But do these brands care that the positioning Target will provide will undermine the premium brand luxury awareness and hefty prices at department store partners?

Many of these brands say they have no relationship with Target; therefore, Target's source may be the gray market. They are free to do that, but perhaps Target is just testing the waters of luxury cosmetics before making an official plunge in most of its national stores. Not so strangely, the experiment could easily work with Target's unique position in the market.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) will soon begin having its meat vendors label their products as having been treated with carbon monoxide. In general, treating fresh meat with carbon monoxide makes meat appear fresh to the shopper, much like treatment with sodium nitrite does. Both products, however, are really not something you want to ingest into your body. The only problem is that labeling laws don't really require this information to be highlighted on meat labels.

So, Target wants to be more truthful with its customers. Remember, it's Target's product you're buying -- not Hormel's or Cargill's. Even though those two companies are the main meat vendors, the last stop is Target's shelves. Target made a very good decision. Empowering customers with information is something that retailers better wake up to. Your competitor will if you won't.

The new labeling will read "Color is not an accurate indicator of freshness. Refer to use or freeze by date." Just like food coloring is used to spruce up pre-packaged and processed foods, the inclusion of carbon monoxide in fresh meats (well, not that fresh) is something many customers want to know about. Next up, we'll see if Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) responds to Target's initiative and requires the same labeling changes from its pre-packaged meat vendors.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) has been on a roll lately, keeping larger competitor Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) on its toes when it comes to clean and modern store design, merchandising and presentation. And it's done all this while maintaining affordability.

A big idea Target pioneered was joining well-known names with apparel and home fashion product lines. One of the most recognizable was the partnership with Martha Stewart for home fashions like pillows and living room furnishings. Then came the apparel lines that joined celebrity brand names with plain-jane clothing lines, while keeping prices as low as any other retailer.

But now the cat is out of the bag, as both Wal-Mart and "mall store outside the mall" retailer Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) are partnering with all types of celebrity names for product lines ranging from candles to baby blankets. The trend Target created is now rolling out everywhere, and at the same time, Target's sales have recently slowed after many quarters of fantastic growth. In February, Target's same-store sales inched up just 0.5%. Target hopes that the economy is to blame for its recent sales slowdown, because if the duplication of its strategy by the competition is to blame, Target may be in for some slow sales quarters this year.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) are in this one together, and we're not talking a battle for retail supremacy here. The two mega discount retailers face an ongoing patent lawsuit over their use of RFID technology to keep track of warehouse and retail inventory levels and automated ordering and processing.

It's hard to imagine a commodity technology being used in so many ways by retailers the world over being patented, but that's just what Houston, Tx. citizen Ronald Bormaster is claiming. Bormaster's RFID patent covers RFID in a way that ensures pallets and units of merchandise don't "collide" when being handled in an automated fashion, and he assigned the patent to a Houston company called "RFID World" -- which is not even using the system on a commercial basis to this day.

Wal-Mart and Target both have asked the patent lawsuit to be thrown out, arguing that it has no merit and that Bormaster's patent isn't a patent in the first place. The retailers say, based on a 2005 University of Arkansas study, that RFID allows in-store merchandise to be replenished three times more quickly when RFID is involved as opposed to manually-scanned bar code systems. Would customers see visible inconveniences in stores if this patent lawsuit was won by Bormaster and RFID was no longer allowed to be used by the two retailers? They say yes. Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG)'s Gillette brand is also involved with this dispute since it's a large proponent of using RFID in its mass production facilities with its partners. All three companies want the case to be thrown out in its entirety.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is set to deploy two larger-store prototypes in 2008 that will apparently be bigger than current Target locations and green certified as the company promotes a more environmentally conscious shopping experience to its customers.

In terms of more greener stores, Target joins larger competitor Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), which recently held a company-wide meeting where 'being green' was the central theme of the show. One of the prototype locations will be a general merchandise store and one will be a SuperTarget location -- and both are scheduled to open in October. Both will feature added space for consumer electronics as well as grocery items.

If all goes well with the new Target prototypes, the discount retailer plans to deploy the prototype designs at more than 100 locations in 2009. Target rolls out prototype designs every four to five years to keep the consumer shopping experience fresh. There's a competitive edge: there are not too many (if any) national retailers I know of that change store designs on a large scale on such a frequent basis.

Welcome to the 49th installment of The Wal-Mart Weekly, a column dedicated to bringing you insight, wit, facts, results, opinions and just a bit of everything else when it comes down to a very hot topic these days: Wal-Mart.

In the last edition of The Wal-Mart Weekly, I peered into the customer returns process at the world's largest retailer. This week, Wal-Mart will go on hiatus for a week while I perform the same experiment on its closest competitor, Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT). As such, Target is my special guest on this week's Wal-Mart Weekly.

Although it seemed to me that there was a process breakdown and too much of a liberal take on returning several items to Wal-Mart in last week's column, it was a little different at Target. At least the packages were looked into this week, but there was more to it as well.

Last week, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) reported a January same-store sales increase of 0.5% and competitor Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) reported a January same-store sales dip of 1.1% from the same period in 2007.

It's been a while since Target saw a same-store sales decrease while larger competitor Wal-Mart reported an increase, and the reasons reported by both chains are a tad different. While Wal-Mart missed expectations of a 2% same-store sales increase in January, Target missed expectations of a 0.6% decline as well.

While Wal-Mart stated that fewer than expected customers cashed in gift cards in January, Target stated that lower sales of jewelry and lawn and garden items were the main reasons for its January downfall. Jewelry -- that makes sense, as the holiday season ended in December. But, lawn and garden sales in January? How low was the forecast there, Target?

When activist investor William Ackman comes to town and starts buying your shares, you can bet he'll be hounding the board for changes soon. That's the case with discount retailer Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT), as Ackman now owns right under 10% of the retailer's shares. What does he have in store? Quite a few changes that should boost the retailer's stock price in the next three years and give Ackman a handsome return on his investment.

First up was Ackman's suggestion that Target sell off its credit card operations -- something that management said would be considered. Just under three weeks ago, Target officials cited "market conditions" as the reason a decision to spin its credit card business had been delayed. In other words, Target probably had not found a buyer for the debt portfolio due to consumer credit having been tightened like a noose in the last calendar quarter of 2007.

What else did Ackman have in mind? He believes the company's shares could be worth $120 each within 36 months, based on an investor letter he wrote on December 27. On tap was Target's need to complete its $10 billion stock buyback and start ramping up cash flows based on all the real estate the company holds -- which Ackman pegs at $42 billion in worth. That's roughly Target's entire market capitalization, so the question becomes one of how Target is going to make money outside of selling diapers, pretzels and spring apparel. Expect those questions to be answered on Target's next quarterly results conference call on February 26.

Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) issued a weaker than expected mid-month sales update on December 24. TGT is recently trading at $50.90. TGT will report December sales on January 10. Jeffries has a hold rating on TGT. TGT over all option implied volatility of 44 is above its 26-week average of 37 according to Track Data, suggesting larger risk.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.