Target made some changes to store hours and operations due to the surging COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the changes amounted to closing two hours earlier on Christmas Eve than in 2019, plus measures to prevent overcrowding inside the stores.
In December 2020, the clickbait website Shefinds went viral with a headline reporting that, "Target Just Announced This HUGE Change To Its Stores For The Holidays--Customers Did Not See This Coming!"
The same website had gone viral a few days earlier for misleadingly reporting, based on an outdated social media post, that wholesale chain Costco had made a "shocking" policy change. Similarly, Shefinds claims a relatively minor change in big box retailer Target's holiday store hours is a "HUGE" change to its stores.
All Target did was shave a couple of hours off its store hours on Christmas Eve amid a surging COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of closing at 10 p.m. (as in 2019), Target stores will close at 8 p.m., according to a message on the company's coronavirus response page. As per usual, all Target stores are closed on Christmas Day.
Other pandemic measures being taken by Target include metering customer entry to avoid overcrowding in the stores, making masks mandatory inside the stores, and reminding people to keep their distance. More than 316,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus as of this writing.