Target Closing Down all 133 stores

[Luker]

With Target's exit from Canada, many Canadians are thinking that they can say "good-bye" to lightly stocked stores and the bold red logo. We are losing much more.

When U.S. and global retailers come to Canada they usually test the competitive landscape with a store in Vancouver or Toronto. More remote Canadian cities wait years or decades for “new” retail players (remember when the mayor of Winnipeg had to go to Sweden to beg for an IKEA?). Not Target – Torontonians got Target stores but so did Canadians in lesser known locales like St. Albert, Medicine Hat and Rimouski. Avoid Quebec because of different language and laws? Not Target. Target boldly entered Quebec in its first year and was formally recognized by the Quebec government for its adoption of the French language. Avoid stores in Newfoundland because it is a supply chain nightmare – not Target. Treat Canada like another district and manage operations out of the U.S? Not Target. From the start, Target invested heavily in the Canadian head office and in Canada-specific technology and systems.

Target did not “get Canada” quite right. But they did make it a priority to serve all Canadians, not just Toronto, Vancouver and the oil patch money. And they did it boldly. Equality and boldness - I will miss them both.

Found on LinkedIn, written by:
Tony Gray
Director at Tata Consultancy Services


I think some good points are raised, and although I wasn't fond of the final product here, they did truly "go for it" here in Canada.

Moreover, I think we are correct in assuming that 1.5-2 year renovation/launch of stores post Zellers was a death-nail which heavily eroded their store traffic.

[manny_santos]

They really should have tried a select few stores, starting with, say, one or two each in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, managed out of the US. If those were successful, then add one in Vancouver. Then fill in the gaps slowly.

The trouble was, HBC wanted to unload Zellers as I recall, and I would speculate that Target really wanted to get as many Zellers locations as possible out of fear of the rest of them getting converted to Walmart or other banners, locking them out of some markets. Of course, that's what is going to happen now.

[Cre47]

Any idea what might be put in to fill-in their Maloney Blvd location? The mall itself has been a dead mall for many many years with basic just Zellers and a grocery store with almost nothing in between (Yellow and a video store been the exceptions), but they have a Brick and a Best Buy as well in the western side as well as several other smaller tenants (Nautilus, Money Mart - and there used to be a Winners as well) but once again this mall (more like a big box right now) has another huge blank to fill.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Any idea what might be put in to fill-in their Maloney Blvd location? The mall itself has been a dead mall for many many years with basic just Zellers and a grocery store with almost nothing in between (Yellow and a video store been the exceptions), but they have a Brick and a Best Buy as well in the western side as well as several other smaller tenants (Nautilus, Money Mart - and there used to be a Winners as well) but once again this mall (more like a big box right now) has another huge blank to fill.

Giant Tiger could take up that space. It seems like a good market for it.

Another long shot might be IKEA. Seems like a good time to open a second location in the Ottawa area, one that could be considered more central.

[Harley613]

No way they'd open another Ikea. Ikea only puts one store in a large metro. A quick google shows that Charlotte and Salt Lake City are the smallest US cities with Ikea...and they are both considerably larger than Ottawa. I think Ottawa is one of the smallest cities with Ikea anywhere. The GTA has four stores, Vancouver area has two, and the Montreal area has two, but Canada as a whole only has 12 stores.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Harley613

No way they'd open another Ikea. Ikea only puts one store in a large metro. A quick google shows that Charlotte and Salt Lake City are the smallest US cities with Ikea...and they are both considerably larger than Ottawa. I think Ottawa is one of the smallest cities with Ikea anywhere. The GTA has four stores, Vancouver area has two, and the Montreal area has two, but Canada as a whole only has 12 stores.

We're not the smallest; Calgary (though likely a bit larger than us today), Edmonton and Winnipeg have stores. Salt Lake (1,140,483 ) is smaller than Ottawa (1,236,324), though Charlotte (2,335,358) is nearly double.

That said, it is a long shot... a very long shot.

[eemy]

Reykjavik is probably the smallest with a 20,000 sqm store for a metro of roughly 200,000. Even if you include the entire population of Iceland, that's still only a bit more than 300,000.

[eternallyme]

In that case, I think Ikea could do a major US expansion...unless it is not terribly popular there?

[DEWLine]

No idea. But I'd be glad of an IKEA in the east end. I once bought bookshelving there, and not being a car driver, had to haul the box home via public transit.

Was. Not. Easy. To do. Not impossible, but awkward and occasionally painful along the way.

[c_speed3108]

My understanding is that IKEA generally wants approx. 1 million per store, although they made a bit of an exception for Winnipeg and approximated to the whole province as they had nothing from Toronto to Edmonton.

[silvergate]

Originally Posted by DEWLine

No idea. But I'd be glad of an IKEA in the east end. I once bought bookshelving there, and not being a car driver, had to haul the box home via public transit.

Was. Not. Easy. To do. Not impossible, but awkward and occasionally painful along the way.

Ikea does do delivery. Maybe instead of a full scale warehouse/showroom, they could develop a smaller show-room store, where you can feed your purchases into electronic kiosks, which tells the west-end warehouse to set up a delivery to your address.

[TheGoods]

Originally Posted by silvergate

Ikea does do delivery. Maybe instead of a full scale warehouse/showroom, they could develop a smaller show-room store, where you can feed your purchases into electronic kiosks, which tells the west-end warehouse to set up a delivery to your address.

Already in the works, smaller stores made for pickup from online purchases and help with orders off a catalogue:

http://www.biv.com/article/2014/12/ikea-open-string-smaller-stores-across-canada/

[Acajack]

One of those mini-IKEAs would be a good use of the Target on Maloney in Gatineau. It's in a booming retail hub and would be a good size for it. Plus IKEA is hugely popular in Gatineau and Quebec. I get flyers all the time from them, everyone I know goes to the one in Ottawa (when they can get out there) and the parking lot is full of Quebec plates over there.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

We're not the smallest; Calgary (though likely a bit larger than us today), Edmonton and Winnipeg have stores. Salt Lake (1,140,483 ) is smaller than Ottawa (1,236,324), though Charlotte (2,335,358) is nearly double.

That said, it is a long shot... a very long shot.

Salt Lake City has a CSA of 2,350,274 for one Ikea

[TheGoods]

It seems that Goodlife would be interested in some of the Target locations:

http://www.obj.ca/Canada---World/2015-01...-at-Target-Canada-locations-for-growth/1

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Harley613

Salt Lake City has a CSA of 2,350,274 for one Ikea

Oh, so the one IKEA stores catchment area.

[Cre47]

Originally Posted by TheGoods

It seems that Goodlife would be interested in some of the Target locations:

http://www.obj.ca/Canada---World/2015-01...-at-Target-Canada-locations-for-growth/1

Bayshore will definitely need one for sure, they haven't had a fitness centre for a very long while.

Giant Tiger would be a good tenant for the Maloney location but maybe a restaurant too would be a good idea even if the Buffet is situated right accross from Maloney

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Cre47

Giant Tiger would be a good tenant for the Maloney location but maybe a restaurant too would be a good idea even if the Buffet is situated right accross from Maloney

Not sure about Giant Tiger as they have a brand new store about 5 km east on Maloney, and they also own the Chez Tante Marie store on Gréber about 2 km away. (There is also a Walmart 1 km away or less.) It would also be a huge Giant Tiger if they took up the entire space.

It could be a restaurant or restaurants but this would require a complete redo of the space.

In any event, that strip mall with the Target is owned by the same people who own Les Promenades right next door. If their renos and ability to lure new tenants at Les Promenades are any indication they don't dick around and the former Target won't stay empty for long.

[wingman]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Not sure about Giant Tiger as they have a brand new store about 5 km east on Maloney, and they also own the Chez Tante Marie store on Gréber about 2 km away. (There is also a Walmart 1 km away or less.) It would also be a huge Giant Tiger if they took up the entire space.

It could be a restaurant or restaurants but this would require a complete redo of the space.

In any event, that strip mall with the Target is owned by the same people who own Les Promenades right next door. If their renos and ability to lure new tenants at Les Promenades are any indication they don't dick around and the former Target won't stay empty for long.

GT will not be going there. Like you said, new one just down Maloney. Are you sure Oxford owns the Galeries Gatineau? Not sure on the restos... there are quite a few in the area already. Will be interesting to see how they manage that space. No one really looking to expand in that area I don't think.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by wingman

GT will not be going there. Like you said, new one just down Maloney. Are you sure Oxford owns the Galeries Gatineau? Not sure on the restos... there are quite a few in the area already. Will be interesting to see how they manage that space. No one really looking to expand in that area I don't think.

Now you've put a doubt in my mind about Les Galeries Gatineau. They were owned by David Azrieli as well and I was sure when he sold Les Promenades to Oxford it was part of the package. I may be wrong though...

As for restaurants you may be right as the number in the area is exploding. Les Promenades will be adding three new sit-down restaurants (L'Académie, 3 Amigos, Grillades Torino) and I believe all three will have terrassess fronting on Maloney.

And just this past fall two more opened one block away on chemin de la Savane: Steak Frites St-Paul and Giorgio.

And the area already had lots of restaurants to begin with.

It's becoming something of a dining destination area but there are limits to what it can take.