Target to exit Canada

[Zayre88]

Former Target Canada becoming a Walmart soon....

This location used to be a Kmart, then Zellers, then Target and soon Walmart...

[jason83080]

It'd be nice if these newly-renovated buildings maintain their new fixtures/construction, get a simple paint job, and just get the Walmart logo slapped onto them (and, possibly, use of that odd second entrance that Target builds onto their stores for absolutely no reason as an entrance to a new external Garden Center area). If necessary, build a detached Auto Center to accompany that need. However, knowing how Walmart likes to standardize their stores/buildings, they'll probably tear out the entire front and make it look like a regular WM store.

[BillyGr]

It'd be nice if these newly-renovated buildings maintain their new fixtures/construction, get a simple paint job, and just get the Walmart logo slapped onto them (and, possibly, use of that odd second entrance that Target builds onto their stores for absolutely no reason as an entrance to a new external Garden Center area). If necessary, build a detached Auto Center to accompany that need. However, knowing how Walmart likes to standardize their stores/buildings, they'll probably tear out the entire front and make it look like a regular WM store.

Although it looks like they might do just what you suggested, based on the photo in the post above.  After all, I don't think blue and that dark goldish color are left over from Target... but they do look like someone else's color scheme.  And it doesn't make sense that they would start painting if they planned to do major remodeling to the front?

[Zayre88]

One more Target becoming a Walmart soon in the Montreal area:

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

This could be Walmart Canada's big chance to become a bit more "upscale" while remaining more on the low end.

[Zayre88]

Our local former Target is becoming a Super C supermarket:

[Zayre88]

Former Target converted into a Canadian Tire store:

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Target missed their "target" in Canada...

Target left Canada...

New stores are now opening in the former Canadian Target locations.

[JimSawhill]

I wonder if Quebec's Korvettes would open a few old Target stores in Quebec.

[Zayre88]

I wonder if Quebec's Korvettes would open a few old Target stores in Quebec.

So far none.  Korvette operates stores in small towns and underserved rual areas.  Kind of like Ames used to do.

Giant Tiger will open a store in part of a former Target in Ontario.  But again they are much smaller stores.

At 16,500 square feet, the new store will be considerably smaller than the roughly 100,000 square feet that Target occupied.

[Zayre88]

Here's one more former Target turned into a Walmart.

They kept the original facade and doors in place:

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

I wonder if Quebec's Korvettes would open a few old Target stores in Quebec.

So far none.  Korvette operates stores in small towns and underserved rual areas.  Kind of like Ames used to do.

Just like how Shopko's Shopko Hometown currently serves small town and underserved rural areas in the United States like Pamida, PM Place, Fischer's Big Wheel, Gibson's and ALCO did at one time.

Target Australia's Target Country stores (originally called Fossey's) also serve a similar purpose in smaller Australian communities and underserved rural Australian communities.

[JimSawhill]

I wonder if Quebec's Korvettes would open a few old Target stores in Quebec.

So far none.  Korvette operates stores in small towns and underserved rual areas.  Kind of like Ames used to do.

Just like how Shopko's Shopko Hometown currently serves small town and underserved rural areas in the United States like Pamida, PM Place, Fischer's Big Wheel, Gibson's and ALCO did at one time.

Target Australia's Target Country stores (originally called Fossey's) also serve a similar purpose in smaller Australian communities and underserved rural Australian communities.

Fischer's Big Wheel was a great store...I wonder what went into the old FBW Stafford Springs store.

[Zayre88]

Inside a former Target Canada in Gatineau, Quebec (near Ottawa):

[Zayre88]

Honda Canada has reused a former Target store in its latest commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueTMiq0WsbY

[JimSawhill]

Honda Canada has reused a former Target store in its latest commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueTMiq0WsbY

Nice commercial...I wonder which ex Target store they used?

[Zayre88]

Here's a former Target Canada stores turned into a Walmart Supercenter.

Store was originally a Woolco.  It became a Zellers and then Target.  Target closed in 2015 and location has been picked up by Walmart which closed its older and smaller store in Lévis near Highway 20.

Walmart has sealed off the original Target entrance on the left of the picture and built a new one further right and re-used Target's doors and windows.  Far right, the building shape is a relic from the original Woolco store.

[danfifepsu]

yes Target gave up on this way way way way too fast I Feel.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

yes Target gave up on this way way way way too fast I Feel.

I hate to break it to you, but Target Canada did not give up. They failed. Here's proof:

15 Things We Learned About The Downfall Of Target Canada
By Laura Northrup, Consumerist.com
@lnorthrup
January 22, 2016

Why did Target’s expansion into Canada fail so quickly? The company is based in Minnesota, which is dangerously close to being Canada. Yet Target Canada failed spectacularly. Why? Sure, they expanded too quickly, and had supply chain problems: we all know the answer. Yet what did that look like on the ground?

Employees on both sides of the border must have worked very hard to make the launch happen, and it resulted in a terrible experience for shoppers. Canadian Business interviewed employees who were there when Target Canada launched and when it failed. For all of the scary details, head over to their site to read the whole story.

Note that Target wouldn’t confirm any of what the ex-employees say, and most of them asked for anonymity because they want to keep working in the industry.

Here’s what we learned from the article: and we thought that we already knew a lot about Target Canada, eh.


1.  Target wasn’t ready. The point of sale systems weren’t working and the company struggled to get inventory into stores, yet they went ahead and opened the first test stores anyway.

2. When an employee asked Greg Steinhafel, then CEO of Target, what he would change about how Target Canada had launched if he could, Steinhafel said that he would not have bought Canadian discount chain Zellers. The transaction began when Walmart approached the owner of Zellers about a sale, and knowing that their competitor was involved made Target bid more ($1.8 billion) to open 133 stores on a much faster timeline than was actually possible.

3. Target couldn’t just box up its behind-the-scenes software and send it to Canada, since it was built specifically for the use of Target in the United States, and couldn’t handle French characters or Canadian dollars. They bought a new system from an outside vendor, which usually took stores that were already operating several years to implement. Getting the system to work while also creating Target Canada was a disaster.

4. In the U.S., Target hires corporate employees who have the right personality right out of school and trains them. In Canada, they did the same, but the bright and friendly young employees they hired received very little training compared to their American counterparts.
   
5. There was intense time pressure, but employees didn’t realize how crucial it was that the software running the supply chain had to be correct. “You had these people we hired, straight out of school, pressured to do this insane amount of data entry, and nobody told them it had to be right,” one former employee explained. Inaccurate information delayed shipments and caused other logistics disasters.

6. The fall before the launch, the merchandising team realized that there was so much inaccurate data in the system that they would have to take a week and do nothing but verify with suppliers every piece of information (size, weight, everything else you can imagine) about every item that the stores planned to carry. It was a miserable week. Target sent ice cream and pizza to comfort the workers.
   
7. Target’s employees in suburban Toronto couldn’t type the information into the system themselves: there was another set of workers in India who did that, which was another way errors could creep in. Interviewees disagree about whether their work was error-riddled or not.

8. The good news: the first stores in Ontario had more customers than expected. Unfortunately, that meant that customers encountered empty shelves.
   
9. Warehouse and supply chain software weren’t communicating, which led to empty store shelves and overstuffed distribution centers. The company forecast demand for different items based on information from U.S. stores, not a new chain launching in a new country.
   
10. The point-of sale (cash register) systems were buggy and sometimes froze. Self-checkout stations sometimes gave out the wrong change.

11. No matter how badly the launch went, Target Canada had to keep going and keep opening new stores, because the company had paid so much for the former Zellers leases.

12. Target Canada president Tony Fisher left the company in May 2015, two weeks after CEO Gregg Steinhafel stepped down.

13. One week, stores were sold out of every item pictured on the front of its sales flyer. We can’t even add any snarky remarks to that.

14. Employees were expecting some store closings and layoffs, and were shocked when headquarters in Minneapolis announced that Target Canada would file for bankruptcy and close all of its stores.

15. Canadians can shop at Target again… sort of. The company partnered with Borderfree, which handles the logistical issues of international e-commerce. One of the countries they’ll ship to is Canada.

[danfifepsu]

2 years was too quick to fail

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

2 years was too quick to fail

They weren't prepared for the Canadian market.

[danfifepsu]

2 years was too quick to fail

They weren't prepared for the Canadian market.

what cant they do now? what were their stores like?

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

2 years was too quick to fail

They weren't prepared for the Canadian market.

what cant they do now? what were their stores like?

They had the same layout and logo as the American Target stores. Some small locations found in some former Kmart/Zellers locations had a layout condensed to a smaller space. Stores were understocked (empty shelves in random parts of the store). Another thing that was a challenge for Target Canada was translating everything to French-Canadian for the French-speaking parts of Canada.

[danfifepsu]

2 years was too quick to fail

They weren't prepared for the Canadian market.

what cant they do now? what were their stores like?

They had the same layout and logo as the American Target stores. Some small locations found in some former Kmart/Zellers locations had a layout condensed to a smaller space. Stores were understocked (empty shelves in random parts of the store). Another thing that was a challenge for Target Canada was translating everything to French-Canadian for the French-speaking parts of Canada.

I nevr got a chance to go to them due to that short 2 year run.

[Zayre88]

Everyone should read this article:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/the-last-days-of-target-canada/

Very interesting and revealing story on the last days of Target Canada and how it all happened...

Many people I know still miss Target Canada...

[busman_49]

Everyone should read this article:

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/the-last-days-of-target-canada/

Very interesting and revealing story on the last days of Target Canada and how it all happened...

Many people I know still miss Target Canada...

I just got done reading it (this is the second time I've read up on this)...just...wow.  That's all I can say.

[retailisking]

If Target didn't have challenges in the US they probably would have stuck it out for a bit longer. But it's an enormous drain on resources to fight a two-front war. Even successful businesses sometimes have to make tough choices - Shaw's was going well for J. Sainsbury, but problems on the home front promoted them to sell to Albertsons - and we all know how that turned out for Shaw's...

[Zayre88]

Wow indeed.... 

I had a Target Canada store in my home town and I was able to notice that there were problems (like empty shelves)

But the magnitude of the issues is just unbelievable!

I just got done reading it (this is the second time I've read up on this)...just...wow.  That's all I can say.

[Zayre88]

Here's the former two-level Target store at the West Edmonton Mall:


You can see more new pictures of former Target Canada stores on my Flickr page:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/24587536@N08/

[giantsfan2016]

Is something going in there? I see a dumpster in that picture.