Target’s mascot, Bullseye the dog, is about to get a lot happier.
Starting in May, Polka Dog Bakery, with retail locations in the South End and Jamaica Plain, will be selling an exclusive line of products at Target stores across the country.
The display will be part of The Shops at Target collection, an initiative that will bring in five small businesses from across the country to sell their products in stores and on Target.com for six weeks.
“This is actually a first for Target,’’ said spokeswoman Erin Conroy. “We love to give our guests the thrill of discovery, and we think they’ll really be pleasantly surprised by this.’’
Big chains often are criticized for hurting local merchants, but now Target Corp. and Walmart Stores Inc. are reaching out to small businesses to form partnerships. The strategy comes at a time when consumers are paying attention to where their products come from and are buying locally produced goods. The National Retail Federation said that overall holiday sales were up 4.1 percent in 2011, compared with the previous year, but independent retailers reported a holiday sales increase of 6.7 percent, according to a survey released this week by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit involved in community development.
Ani Collum, an analyst at consultancy firm Retail Concepts, said chains are teaming up with local merchants “to capitalize on this movement and be more relevant to consumers and what they care about, which is local stores.’’
In a way, “they’re shedding this big box image,’’ she said.
Collum thinks other large retailers will be quick to create similar campaigns. “It’ll be something that’ll be a trend in the industry,’’ she said. “I’m not sure how long it’ll be, but other stores will jump on the bandwagon.’’
Michelle Long, president of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, a nonprofit that works with local business organizations, said megastores partnering with small businesses is a small step, but not big enough to make long-term change in the retail world.
“To me it’s kind of like Starbucks selling a little bit of fair trade coffee,’’ she said. “They’re good steps. I’d rather see fair trade coffee than not. What we really need is to keep going here.’’
Target said it plans another display of small businesses later in 2012, and more in 2013 if these collections are successful.