Target's former commercial interiors business has a new name, new owners

The Bullseye is gone for good at Target's former office furniture business in Minneapolis, the latest sign of the retailer's bid to make itself leaner and meaner.

Once known as Target Commercial Interiors, the business-to-business dealer – now under new ownership – announced Thursday morning it's renamed itself Atmosphere Commercial Interiors.

The firm – an interior designer of office spaces that also sells and installs equipment including desks, tables and cubicle walls – was sold off by Target this past spring.

But it's not just a simple name change – according to the Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, Atmosphere will adapt itself to an increasingly technology-based business world by focusing on "audio-visual services" for its clients.

Why did Target sell it?

While the firm – which has locations in four states – was profitable and has seen more growth than Target's retail operation in recent years, the Star Tribune notes, it was considered a "distraction" from the Bullseye's priorities.

The Business Journal says new Target CEO Brian Cornell, who has led the corporate streamlining process (including the dismissal of some 1,700 corporate employees), viewed the office designer as "outside" the retailer's main interest – namely, selling to consumers, not other businesses.

According to a press release, Commercial Interiors was sold to Minneapolis-based Omni Workspace Company, also known as A&M Business Interior Services, in May.

The Star Tribune notes Target wouldn't specify exactly how much the deal was worth – only that it was less than $10 million.

At the time of the sale, the companies said the new owner would keep the firm's downtown Minneapolis headquarters – right across the street from Target home base.

The business launched in the 1950s as Dayton's Commercial Interiors, eventually taking the Target name in the ensuing decades, the release says.