Zachary Lewis
Plain Dealer Reporter

Dozens of Target investors are expected to convene in Cleveland today for an annual shareholders meeting at a new store on the city's West Side, but their visit may not be entirely smooth.

Local and national advocacy groups plan their own meeting outside the store at the same time, picketing Target's sale of products made from or packaged in polyvinyl chloride. PVC is a widely used plastic thought to be hazardous.

Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter explained the company's choice of Cleveland.

She said the new 126,000-square-foot store under construction at West 117th Street and Interstate 90 is an example of Target's new store prototype, featuring more space devoted to convenience grocery items. Holding the meeting there "gives some of the shareholders an opportunity to see the store," she said. Today marks the second time Target shareholders have gathered outside Minneapolis, where the company is based. Last year's meeting was held in Atlanta, Brookter said.

On the agenda for today's noon meeting are an address by Target CEO Robert Ulrich and a question-and-answer session with senior executives. As many as 40 investors from around the country are expected to attend, Brookter said.

On Wednesday, Target reported that it earned $651 million, or 75 cents a share, on sales of $14.04 billion in the quarter that ended May 5. The profit was 17.5 percent higher than in the same quarter a year ago and revenue was up 9.2 percent. Sales at stores open at least a year were up 4.3 percent.

The West 117th Street store is scheduled to open July 29. It will be Target's 19th store in Northeast Ohio and one of more than 1,500 nationwide. It is not a SuperTarget, Brookter said. SuperTarget stores generally are 175,000 square feet and contain optical stores, fast-food restaurants, portrait studios and grocery stores.

Leading the PVC picketing will be members of the Virginia-based Center for Health, Environment & Justice. They'll be joined by representatives from the Sierra Club, the Pittsburgh-based Learning Disabilities Association of America and the Cleveland-based consumer advocacy group Ohio Citizen Action.

Mike Schade, PVC Campaign Coordinator for the Virginia group, said his organization will release a report called "Way Off Target: A Critical Assessment of Target's PVC Products and Packaging."

Additionally, the groups plan to file a petition with Ulrich asking Target to phase out PVC, as Wal-Mart recently did, from all goods intended for children. PVC can be found in plastic packaging as well as in shower curtains, shampoo bottles and baby products such as teething rings.

"We think there's a strong business case for moving away from PVC," Schade said.

A written response from Target said that the Center for Health, Environment & Justice is "grossly misrepresenting" the company's position on PVC and that Target is "actively pursuing opportunities . . . to reduce PVC in our products and packaging."

To date, however, Target has not eliminated PVC "because we have not identified suitable alternative materials that are available for use in mass production," the document said.

Fifteen to 20 people are expected to participate in the PVC meeting today, said Jessica Metcalf, staff director of Ohio Citizen Action. Some are expected to be dressed in hazardous material gear.

Metcalf said the event would be peaceful - a "call for action," rather than a protest.

"By no means are we here to embarrass Target," she said. "We see the problem and we want to work with [Target] to fix it."

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