BIZ WALMART-TARGET MS

Customers shop at the newly remodeled Wal-Mart in Eagan, Minnesota, December 2, 2009. Minnesota, where Target has 74 stores, the bulk of them in the metro area, has always been one of the most profitable regions for the Minneapolis-based retailer. "Wal-Mart wants to beat Target on its own turf," said Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director of Strategic Resource Group. (Glen Stubbe/Minneapolis Star Tribune/MCT)