In Kimberly’s post, which can be found here, she makes some very valid points on why Target has failed in Canada. In my opinion, Target was doomed from the start. Growing up in Campbell River, a town of 30 000 on the island, we had always had a Zellers in one of our main shopping compounds. Now, anytime you went into Zellers you would see approximately 10 other people in the entire store at a time, staff included. Typically people would shop there only as a last resort, as the whole vibe the store gave off was just depressing. Then one day, it was gone. And guess what moved in… Target buying the Zellers location was big news in CR, and many people were very excited to have this big American retailer entering our little town. However, I was sceptical. Who said that this new Target was going to be any different that the old Zellers? What made Target so special in comparison?
Fast forward to this past Summer, when I was working at Moxie’s in the same plaza as our glorious new Target. I went inside on my breaks occasionally (because they have really good trail mix), and just like good old Zellers, I saw maybe 10 people, tops. Some people wonder what went wrong with Target, but I just wonder why anyone thought it was a good idea in the first place. Replacing one failed “super” store like Zellers with another practically identical store just does not make sense to me. Just because it is a big American company does not mean that it will offer anything more desirable to Canadian consumers… besides trail mix.