Target

[airplane-dude]

I realize it's very early in the game, but does anyone care to take a guess as to which GTA Zellers locations will stay open as Target's and which will be sold-off?

Here in Mississauga, I can see them keeping both the Square One and Erin Mills locations, while closing the Sheridan and Westdale spaces.

The Westdale seems busy but is rather small, and the Sheridan is never crowded..

[nfitz]

I'm guessing and fearing we can kiss the Gerrard Square location good bye.

On the bright side though, perhaps they can finally put a front entrance into the mall from the street. The current lack of pedestrian access to the mall is just silly.

[Skeezix]

***

On renovation; they did spend some, they rebuilt/renovated all the stores in Winnipeg; and they also replaced on on Eglinton East in Scarborough. But I think they were very much trying to find a version of their format that worked.

They never really did.

But to me, not a regular there mind you; but my few experiences there always showed that key problems remained the same. As noted above, items not in stock, staff who had no idea what they carry, let alone what to do about out-of-stock issues; and lenghty waits at check-out.

I'm not sure how true that is anymore. I'm not in there all the time or anything, but the changes at the downtown Queen Street store are incrementally transforming that store. Everytime I am in there they've redone another section. Menswear is improving -- more interesting brands, better displayed merchandise. My colleagues and I actually find ourselves stopping to look at stuff when we cut through the store to get to Great Cooks on the 8th floor at lunch (we never used to do that). They've done a lot of work on the giant St. Catherines store in Montreal - when I was there at Christmas, I saw some pretty nice renovated space on the the first and 2nd floors as I took the escalator up to housewares. When I was at Fairview a couple of months ago, and walked into the second floor of the Bay looking to grab some socks and underwear, I did a double-take -- the store looked newly renovated. On second glance, it hadn't been renovated - it just appears as though someone who knows retail and knows how racks and merchandise should be displayed had done their work. It was a huge contrast to the dumpy Sears store I walked through on my way to the parking structure. Service is clearly improving. Lines moved quickly when I was there at Christmas. My mother tells me that for the first time ever, she actually had sales clerks check in on her at Christmas in the change rooms at the Bayshore store, to see if she needed anything/other sizes.

It would be nice if they were gutting and redoing whole stores, as opposed to renovating them by sections (although some of the money from the Zellers sale might help accelerate the transformation). And who knows if they will ultimately be successful. But there are definately marked improvements at the Bay stores which seem to indicate that the changes being implemented by Bonnie Brooks are different from recent, unsuccessful "transformations" under previous owners.

[Northern Light]

@Skeezix

I was only referring to the Zeller's division of the stores.

The Bay division has improved by leaps and bounds, though much is left to be done.

My understanding is that the Queen St. Store and downtown Vancouver will be getting the full-out upgrade in the next year or so.

The next issue for the The Bay will be extending that success, though likely at a slightly lower price point to their suburban stores.

[Kingsway]

Cloverdale will probably stay.....Kipling Queensway will be iced I am sure

Warden and Eglinton (the one Zellers tried to make look like Target) I a sure is a keeper.

[samsonyuen]

I concur with the Warden and Eglinton store - very Target-esque.

Not sure if the Dupont/Dufferin or Bloor/Dundas West locations will stay. Or maybe they'll tear them down and build anew.

[adma]

Zellers is soooo Bryan Adams-era.

[adma]

Not sure if the Dupont/Dufferin or Bloor/Dundas West locations will stay. Or maybe they'll tear them down and build anew.

Or a la the Woolco Wal-Marts, either or both will be maintained pending redevelopment--remember that both sites are primed for "urban intensification"...

[FAC33]

Out here in the east end of the GTA, the Ajax store is also very Target-esque--it's in a newer shopping centre. The Whitby store is also newer and in the Brooklin area, which is quite high-growth. The two stores in Pickering and Oshawa are older (I suspect these were both something else before) and both attached to malls, which is not Target's usual preferred store location. I think they'll keep at least one of those, and if I were to lay a bet, it would be Pickering.

Getting back to Toronto--very curious what happens to Thorncliffe. It was the original Sayvette store, then a Woolco's, and then finally a Zeller's. It's two floors and probably not suitable for anything else.

[Peepers]

What I would like to see is Target takeover the Yonge & Bloor Hudson Bay store. Hudsons Bay doesn't need two locations downtown and they could use the money from the sale to focus on the Queen street store which is in desperate need of attention.

[junctionist]

I stopped by the Queen Street Bay store and it looked better than it had in years. I saw some quality casual menswear on the second floor and it seemed to draw a lot of young people. Why not? A store as unique as the Bay on Queen deserves to be cool, with its extraordinary exterior and many floors of merchandise. I hope they achieve that with their upgrades, but they're on their way. As a child, when the very existence of a department store with so many floors fascinated me, the furniture section at the upper floor made me laugh because they always had the same conservative stuff at high prices. I would sometimes go back to see if anything had changed after a few years and it never seemed like it did. I honestly couldn't imagine who bought that furniture. Maybe they can reinvent that dark upper floor, too.

Speaking of Target, did anyone notice that their stores have a distinct smell? It's like a plastic rubber smell that I don't notice in a similar store like Zellers. The main difference between Target and Zellers is that Target has a better selection of the same kind of merchandise and brighter stores. When I walk into a Zellers, I struggle to find anything I would like to buy beyond household necessities. The clothes seem dull and generic, the electronics limited in selection

[junctionist]

What I would like to see is Target takeover the Yonge & Bloor Hudson Bay store. Hudsons Bay doesn't need two locations downtown and they could use the money from the sale to focus on the Queen street store which is in desperate need of attention.

But that would seem like a decline in retail quality for Yonge and Bloor. It would be almost like going from the Bay to Zellers .

[Northern Light]

While I do see HBC giving up the Bloor St. space; as this has been long rumoured; (and there is no question they will either give it up or gut it, as it does not have the look/feel of the stores they want now)......

I do not see Target as the logical successor in that space.

I think that is probably the one space that may attract a higher-end U.S. dept store.

Target may, eventually set up a downtown Toronto location, but that does not strike me as the right 'hood for them.

I think they are much more Yonge/Dundas.

The above said, no I don't see them claiming any of Sears space in the Eaton Center.

***

On a separate note, no insider knowledge......but it strike me that Sears Canada may be a takeover target too.

It is definitely struggling more than it used to; so is its U.S. parent. I would not be surprised to see them sell off the Canadians assets, particularly any downtown stores (former Eatons) as these are really not central to the nature of Sears, and as HBC has demonstrated, just the lease-holds could bring in a lot of cash.

[PinkLucy]

The Bay at Yonge/Queen has improved greatly in the past couple of years and continues to do so. I like shopping there for the first time in years. The Bay at Yonge/Bloor however is sad, neglected and shabby. I'm always surprised when I go in there because given its location, I keep expecting it to be better but it never is. It's prime retail space! To me, that indicates that HBC is working towards giving it up -- if they wanted two downtown stores, you'd think they'd put equal effort into them but all their effort is directed at the Queen St. store.

I'd be happy to see Sears go. They've become messy and junked up the past few years.

[adma]

Maybe the argument for Target replacing the Bloor/Yonge Bay might be based upon its being on the convenient "wrong side" of Yonge, therefore greater licence to be egalitarian--reinforced, of course, by the squatting-atop-a-subway-junction effect...