Thank you for this rarity. I shopped at Ayr-way as a youngster and many kids today will not know that this was the chain that became Target. As a token of appreciation, here are some facts about Ayr-way that I've found as part of my history of Louisville retailing project. Ayr-way was a suburban discount chain operated by the L.S Ayres Co, operator of traditional downtown department stores. They announced their move into the Louisville market in 1970 and opened their first three Louisville Ayr-way locations in 1971. The Westport Road/Hubbards Lane location was the first to open here in Feb. 1971. The Dayton-Hudson Corp. of Minneapolis purchased the Ayr-Way chain in 1980 and converted them to Target stores in Louisville in 1981. For a brief few months in 1981 the stores were dual-branded as "Ayr-Way-Target" to ease the transition to its new name. Here are a list of the Ayr-way stores in Louisville, their locations, and dates of operation. I had to dig deep into the old newspapers to get this information precise. Glad to share this info. Ayr-way (1971-1980) Louisville area locations: 4174 Westport Road, at Hubbards Lane (February 1971-1980) 1500 Greentree Boulevard, Green Tree Mall, Hwy 131, Clarksville, Ind. (April 1971-1980-) Bashford Manor Mall, 2034 Bashford Manor Lane (August 1972-1980) 7100 Preston Hwy. (August 1972-1980) 9070 Dixie Highway, at Westland Mall (April 1976-1980) 9525 Taylorsville Road, J-Town Shopping Center (May 1979-1980) 1710 10th St., Grant Plaza, Jeffersonville, Ind. (July 1979-1980) 2209 State St., New Albany, Ind. (August 1979-1980)
I remember for a short time all the price tags at Ayr-Way suddenly had little red bullseyes on them, and wondering what that was about. Then came the name change. It was sad to see the big green neon Ayr-Way sign with the flashing arrows replaced by the relatively tiny Target sign.
