If Target already had a problem, why did they ever do something so dumb? Perhaps their decision makers were already trashing Target with bad decision making before this blunder.
I would never try on clothes in Target. Yuck. Who knows where their women's clothing has been?
That's a good point to make.
It would have very little impact in this quarter, but it could have some about the last 3 weeks of that quarter.
It will be really felt in this next quarter, and if the boycott holds during the critical Christmas season, Target could be begging the banned Santa Clause bell ringers to come pray for them.
Target has been making bad business decisions for a while now. For example, in 2013, they decided to expand into Canada, opening about 130 stores. Their Canadian stores lost about $1 billion the first year, causing Target to announce they were closing all of their stores in Canada less than two years after they first opened. As you've stated, Target's rest room policy is a new development, and therefore is not yet a factor in their recent difficulties. However, this insane policy, and the subsequent mass boycott of their stores, is certainly not going to help them going forward.