Former Target Chief Will Head Kmart

Kmart Corp., turning to a former rival for help, on Monday named one-time Target Stores head Floyd Hall as chairman, president and chief executive officer of the struggling discount retailer.

Hall was chairman and CEO at Target, a division of Dayton Hudson Corp., from 1981-84. During that time, Target grew from 97 to 205 stores and sales rose from $1.3 billion to $3.1 billion.

Kmart, with many tired and underperforming stores, has been hard-pressed to compete with Target and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Hall, 56, said his know-how would come in handy.

“I have done extensive analysis of Kmart. I’ve looked at their strengths and weaknesses and tried to analyze for Target how we could best capitalize on that,” he said.