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Target (TGT) announced and confirmed today that CEO Bob Ulrich will be retiring as head of the company at the end of April. He will be succeeded by president Gregg Steinhafel. Ulrich has been with the company since 1967, and will remain on as chairman through the end of fiscal 2008.

I say it was confirmed because Target has a mandatory retirement age of 65, which Ulrich will reach in April.

Ulrich, who became Target CEO and Chairman in 1994, has been a strong performer for the company, even though they've struggled - along with all retailers - over growing sales this year.

During his tenure at the company, Ulrich helped Target to almost triple is sales, along with the number of new stores in the U.S. He also is widely credited with bringing in high end apparel lines like Michael Graves and Isaac Mizahi. Net earnings also exploded by almost nine times under his leadership.

Over the last year Target has struggled, as over the last four months the company has dropped in same-store sales over the same period a year ago. Economic factors and warmer temperatures have been some of the reasons for those results.

Steinhafel, who has been with Target since 1979, has recently been leading the areas of the company connected to merchandising. Other areas he's involved in are the legal team, distribution network and technology services organization.