Thursday, January 13, 2011

Target Comes To Winnipeg



Target comes to Winnipeg...and the rest of Canada.

Zellers will be turned into Target locations in Winnipeg and across Canada with the takeover by Target.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Though if you read the article, it doesn't say that. Target doesn't own Zellers (HBC still does) and it may not re brand all Winnipeg Zellers stores.

Target just bought out the leases on 220 Zellers stores. They could opt just to keep the stand-alone ones with large parking lots, which in Winnipeg are very few in number. The could opt not to renew any leases at all and start a new building spree.

Zellers could merge with Fields (smaller stores HBC has in small towns) or just become a part of Bay stores as was done in Winnipeg OR live again featuring a different assortment of merchandise (ie family clothing like SAAN stores was).

John Dobbin said...

Sorry if it seemed I implied takeover meant of ownership of the Zellers company. I meant that the leases were taken over.

However, Target has said they intend to go go big as Walmart did when it came to Canada. I expect they would want to be in Polo Park despite the size and shared parking lot until something better came along.

Walmart bought Woolco and kept the bulk of the stores which were located in malls before aggressively moving to big box centers.

Some Zellers or their old locations might prove unsuitable such as the basement location in the downtown Bay. However, Target has upped their game with a new urban format that might fit well with that location.

Target does have multiple platforms they could try for various sizes of stores.

I guess we'll see what their assessment is of their lease assets but one thing is for sure, they are not putting a timid foot into the market.

John Dobbin said...

One thing I should add is that there are 70 Zellers stores not part of the deal. I still don't know if that includes a few in Manitoba.