By Dana Flavelle | Fri Sep 23 2011
Toronto will be the first Canadian city to get a Target store when the hotly anticipated purveyor of cheap chic merchandise starts opening its first non-U.S. stores in March 2013, the company says.
Just where it might be located remains to be seen. Perhaps in one of the six Zellers locations in Toronto the retailer announced last May? Or in the Stockyards, a new development under construction at the corner of St. Clair Ave. W. and Weston Rd.
The retailer isn’t saying.
However, Target did shed more light on its plans for Canada on Friday.
Dubbed Tar-zhay by its legion of fans, the U.S.-based retailer said it plans to open up to 135 stores in 2013, including 134 in Zellers locations across the country and one in a vacant Walmart in Niagara Falls.
Target also said the stores, which carry mainly general merchandise, would sell food under an agreement it has signed with Sobeys Inc., the country’s second largest supermarket chain.
For now, the deal with Sobeys includes frozen, dairy and dry goods, but the retailer isn’t ruling out a wider assortment in future. In the U.S., Target has begun adding fresh produce and meat, making it more of a full-service grocer.
In a separate but related announcement, Walmart Canada Corp. released a list of the 39 Zellers stores it plans to convert to Walmart’s by the end of next year.
They include three Zellers stores in Toronto, one each in Gerrard Square, Sheridan Mall and Cedarbrae Mall.
Target’s entry into Canada is expected to be a game-changing event for the Canadian retail industry.
With its powerful marketing muscle and reputation for cheap-chic, reinforced by high-profile designer events, such as the Missoni collection that crashed its website last week, Target is expected to take a big bite out of the Canadian retail landscape.
The retailer, a major competitor to Wal-Mart south of the border, announced in January it would make a bold move into Canada, its first foray outside the U.S., by buying the leasehold rights to up to 220 Zellers locations for $1.825 billion.
But after reviewing the sites, it has chosen to take up the leasehold rights on just 134 Zellers’ stores. It announced the locations of the first 105 in May.
On Friday, it said it had taken up another 84 leaseholds, but only 29 would be converted to Targets. The additional 84 Zellers’ sites include 36 in Ontario. It declined to say which of those locations would become Targets.
The retailer, whose arrival is expected to dramatically change the Canadian retail landscape, said this completes its real estate transaction with Zellers.
However, it plans to build some stores from scratch, including one at St. Clair Ave. W. and Weston Rd. and is also taking over a vacant Walmart store in Niagara Falls.
Target plans to spend $10-$11 million converting each Zellers’ location. It’s already begun hiring in Canada.
In a separate release, Zellers said it will prepare its associates for the tens of thousands of jobs that will be created by Target and other retailers through a comprehensive career transition program which includes working closely with prospective employers.
Target will provide Zellers with a minimum six months notice of any planned store closure, with most stores receiving nine months notice. For the balance of 2011 and into 2012 Zellers customers will continue to be able to enjoy shopping at all of its locations across the country.
The remaining 84 Zellers stores that are not part of the Target transaction will continue to operate while the company reviews its options for these locations.
List of Target’s second and final selection of 84 additional Zellers leases
Includes potential Target stores and leases sold to other retailers or back to landlords
Alberta (8)
Calgary, AB – Deer Valley Shopping Centre
Edmonton, AB – Abbottsfield Shoppers Mall, Meadowlark Shopping Centre, Northgate Centre, South Park Centre, West Edmonton Mall
Westmount Shopping Centre
Medicine Hat, AB – Medicine Hat Mall
British Columbia (11)
Burnaby, BC – Brentwood Mall
Dawson Creek, BC – Dawson Mall
Kamloops, BC – Sahali Centre Mall
Kelowna, BC – Orchard Park Plaza
Penticton, BC – Penticton Power Centre
Prince Rupert, BC – Rupert Square
Richmond, BC – Landsdowne Centre
Salmon Arm, BC – Piccadilly Place Mall
Surrey, BC – Surrey Place/Central City
Vancouver, BC – Lynn Valley Centre
Victoria, BC – Hillside Shopping Centre
New Brunswick (3)
Fredericton, NB – Uptown Centre
Moncton, NB – Northwest Centre
Saint John, NB – Lancaster Mall
Newfoundland and Labrador (1)
St. John’s, NL – Zellers Plaza
Nova Scotia (6)
Amherst, NS – Amherst Centre
Dartmouth, NS – Colby Village Plaza
Greenwood, NS – Zellers Plaza
Halifax, NS – Bayers Lake Power Centre
North Sydney, NS – North Sydney Mall
Sydney, NS – Sydney Shopping Centre
Ontario (36)
Ancaster, ON – Meadowland Power Centre
Bowmanville, ON – Clarington Town Centre
Brantford, ON- Brantford Centre
Chatham, ON – Thames-Lea Plaza
Georgetown, ON – Georgetown Market
Gloucester, ON – Gloucester Centre
Hamilton, ON – County Fair Plaza
Hawkesbury, ON – Hawkesbury Gateway Shopping Centre
Kitchener, ON- Laurentian Power Centre,- Stanley Park Mall
Listowel, ON – Listowel Carriage Shopping Centre
London, ON – Northland Mall
Mississauga, ON – Sheridan Mall, Westdale Mall
Newmarket, ON – 404 Town Centre
North York, ON – Lawrence Square, Sheridan Mall North York
Oakville, ON – Hopedale Mall
Oshawa, ON – Kingsway Village, Oshawa Centre
Ottawa, ON- Heritage Place
Peterborough, ON – Parkway Centre
Pickering, ON – Pickering Town Centre
Scarborough, ON – Warden & Eglinton, Cedarbrae Mall
293 Bay St., Sault Ste. Marie, ON – Station Mall
285 Geneva St., St. Catharines, ON – Fairview Mall
640 Queenston Road, Stoney Creek, ON – Queenston Place
1020 Dawson Road, Thunder Bay, ON – County Fair Plaza
1101 West Arthur St., Thunder Bay, ON – Thunder Bay Mall
170 Broadway, Tillsonburg, ON – Tillsonburg Town Centre
1000 Gerrart St., Toronto, ON – Gerrard Square
2290 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON – Southside/Pond Mills Shopping Centre
70 Bridgeport Road, Waterloo, ON – Zellers Centre
800 Niagara St. N., Welland, ON – Seaway Mall
1550 Huron Church Road, Windsor, ON – Ambassador Plaza
Quebec (16)
600 boul. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Beloeil, QC – Montenach Mall
7200 boul. Taschereau (Local 21), Brossard, QC – Place Portabello
1324 boul. Talbot, Chicoutimi, QC – Place De Saguenay
920 boul. Maloney, Gatineau, QC – Les Galeries Gatineau
1055 boul. Firestone, Joliette, QC – Les Galeries Joliette
161 Route 230 Ouest, Bureau 400, La Pocatière, QC – Les Galeries De La Pocatière
2877 chemin Chambly, Longueuil, QC – Place Desormeaux
1700 rue Sherbrooke, Magog, QC – Les Galeries Orford
3121 rue Granby, Montreal, QC – Centre Commercial Domaine
7275 rue Sherbrooke Est., Montreal, QC – Place Versailles Shopping Centre
6700 chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal, QC – Plaza Côte Des Neiges
101 boul. Cardinal-Léger, # 74, Pincourt, QC – Le Faubourg De l’Île’
12655 rue Sherbrooke Est., Point-aux-Trembles, QC – Carrefour De La Pointe
940 13e Ave. Nord, Sherbrooke, QC – Galeries Quatres Saisons
450 boul. Poliquin, Sorel, QC – Les Promenades De Sorel
450 boul. Arthur Sauvé, St. Eustache, QC – Carrefour St-Eustache
Saskatchewan (3)
134 Primrose Drive, Saskatoon, SK – The Mall at Lawson Heights
2325 Preston Ave., Saskatoon, SK – Market Mall
255-277 Broadway St. E., Yorkton, SK – Parkland Mall
Location of former Walmart site acquired by Target
7190 Morrison St., Niagara Falls, ON
