Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) will open 125 stores across Canada next year, including 19 in B.C.
The U.S. based big box retail giant announced that starting in the spring of 2013 it will open in rebranded Zellers Inc. stores in:
- Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley:
- Scottsdale Mall, Delta;
- Coquitlam Centre, Coquitlam;
- Willowbrook Shopping Centre, Langley;
- Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby;
- Lansdowne Centre, Richmond;
- Surrey Place/Central City, Surrey;
- Abbotsford Power Centre, Abbotsford;
- Haney Place Mall, Maple Ridge;
- Cottonwood Mall, Chilliwack.
Vancouver Island:
- Tillicum Centre, Victoria;
- Nanaimo North Town Centre, Nanaimo;
- Discovery Harbour Shopping Centre, Campbell River;
- Driftwood Mall, Courtenay;
Interior:
- Orchard Park Plaza, Kelowna;
- Village Green Mall, Vernon;
- Tamarack Mall, Cranbrook;
- Sahali Centre Mall, Kamloops;
- Pine Centre, Prince George.
A second Victoria store is also scheduled to open in 2014 at Hillside Shopping Centre.
David Ian Gray, a retail analyst with DIG360 Consulting Ltd., said he was surprised not to see Vancouver's Oakridge Centre on the list. However, Target said in a press release that more locations would be announced later for 2014.
Gray said Target will offer higher quality low-priced products than those sold by the former Zellers stores.
Like Wal-Mart, the Target stores will sell groceries. Gray also expects grocery stores and other big box retailers in cities with new Target stores will be forced to up their game, which ultimately benefits the consumer.
"In many cases the prices will be lower, but I don't think it's going to be American prices – we have a higher cost of operation in Canada," Gray said. "It's just going to be better design, better product. It's going to feel better. Zellers was just stale for the last decade or more.
Earlier this year, Target bought Zellers for $1.825 billion from Hudson Bay Co., acquiring 220 of its store leases. It sold 39 of them to Wal-Mart (Nasdaq:WMT), which is also planning to open 73 new Canadian stores and hire 4,000 new staff within the next two years.
Target is opening 51 stores in Ontario, 25 in Quebec, 15 in Alberta, four each in Manitoba and Nova Scotia, three each in New Brunswick and Saskatchewan, two in Newfoundland and one in Prince Edward Island.
