Target and Ulta just broke up: Employees raised red flags about shoplifting, understaffing, and foot-traffic cannibalization

The two retailers announced today they’ve “mutually agreed” to end the partnership when their current agreement expires in August 2026, but will continue operating online and in stores until then.

Rick Gomez, Target’s EVP and chief commercial officer, said in a statement that the retailer is “proud of our shared success” with Ulta, and that it “remains committed to offering the beauty experience consumers have come to expect from Target.”

The partnership’s end comes after Ulta’s president and CEO, Kecia Steelman, said at a conference in April that the two would “pause” the shop-in-shops’ expansion, looking to “leverage the learnings” and create “even greater value” for the partnership.

Weeks before that announcement, Target employees had taken to Reddit to share red flags with the tie-up—pointing to shoplifting, understaffing, foot traffic cannibalization, and an underwhelming customer experience. Following today’s news, Redditors in r/Ulta and r/Target, many claiming to be former and current employees, echoed similar sentiments. One poster who said they’d worked at a shop-in-shop for three years said they were “not surprised at all” the partnership was ending.

Target has opened 610 Ulta shop-in-shops since the partnership was announced in 2021 as a way to grow Ulta’s reach and expand Target’s merchandise into prestige cosmetics.

Target has been focused on growing its beauty assortment beyond its Ulta shops, launching 2,000 products and 50 new brands in February. It also added beauty items to its front-of-store Bullseye’s Playground this summer, Gomez said in May.

But the partnership’s end appears to be yet another blow to Target, which has seen six straight months of foot traffic declines since backtracking on DEI efforts in January. Ulta, meanwhile, has seen a sales boost since initiating its turnaround plan this year.

This report was originally published by Retail Brew.