[Bump] Target to buy Zellers for 1.8 billion

[Northendzone]

it is funny how a thread about one store buying another can turn into a barrage at pot shots about where people shop and their socio-economic status.....

at the end of the day this purchase obviously provides tar-jay with easy entry into canada - and they have a built in infrastructure and people in the backroom who understand the marketplace (to some extent)- things which can sometime doom companies moving across borders

[TurnedTheCorner]

How many Club Z points did Target get for this purchase?

[Barnet Flame]

I used to get my GWGs in Army and Navy.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

at the end of the day this purchase obviously provides tar-jay with easy entry into canada - and they have a built in infrastructure and people in the backroom who understand the marketplace (to some extent)- things which can sometime doom companies moving across borders

Actually, it's all about real estate. Target is too smart to want anything to do with any of Zellers' backroom people.

The bottom line is that Target could take decades finding enough locations in Canada to have a national presence or they could buy Zellers' locations and be up and running in a couple of years.

[megatron]

This has been one of the funnier threads around here in awhile.

Back on topic I've been to the US a few times, but never shopped at a Target. It can't be worse than Zellers.

Like some, I hope Macy's, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, etc. make their way up here as well.

[gottabekd]

I worked at Zellers in high school and a couple years of university.

It was a fine job, I guess. Much better than fast food.

There were a lot of things that bothered me about the way the store was run. Not the store management, but the direction from "head office". A lot of peeves are probably common to many retail jobs.

The biggest thing is that as employees, our number one job was to get people to sign up for the HBC credit card. That was the only thing keeping the store afloat - the 28.8% interest rate charged to your customers who overextended themselves. A lot of items the store would lose money selling, with the hopes that people will get dinged with interest charges. I think I recall that only two Zellers stores in Calgary actually turned a profit through sales. The credit card business made up the difference.

I'm not an economist, but I sure got the feeling it was only a matter of time before the chain closed up shop if that is the business model. Wal-Mart is usually cheaper. I don't think a Canadian company can compete with that. What Zellers should have done was work on improving the image of the store, so it approaches what a Target store is in the states. Or maybe HBC was just holding off changing the brand, waiting for the inevitable purchase.

[macker]

Can anyone in this thread honestly say that they have bought something at Zellers in the last five years? If so what? Almost like they stopped trying a few years back....Too bad the dates aren't bumped up to 2012 as it is still nothing to get too excited about yet....they are likely going into Mexico also...

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Bob

I was in the Zellers in Chinook Centre the other day and was shocked to see they still had that old cafe open by the mall entrance. Everything in there looked like it was perfectly preserved from about 1985, right down to the crazy 80's hair on one lady and a vintage "Burgers, Fries, Shakes" sign hanging up.

The strange thing is that the Zellers in Chinook has only been there for about 10 years. Originally, the achor tenants at the mall were Sears and Woodward's. When Woodward's went under in the mid-90s, their assets were bought by the Bay. They split the old Woodward's store (which was at the far south end of the mall by the bowling alley) into a Bay store and a Zellers. Then, when the mall was drastically renovated in the late 90s, the Zellers was moved to its current location.

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

Actually, it's all about real estate. Target is too smart to want anything to do with any of Zellers' backroom people.

The bottom line is that Target could take decades finding enough locations in Canada to have a national presence or they could buy Zellers' locations and be up and running in a couple of years.

That's pretty much how Wal-Mart entered the Canadian market. Woolco was struggling, so Wal-Mart bought all their stores and converted them. Even though they've all been significantly renovated by now, you can still tell which Wal-Marts are former Woolco stores because there's something off about them.

With Target, this makes even more sense because Zellers has been selling a lot of Target brand merchandise for years, so if Target came into Canada without acquiring Zellers, they would have taken back all their brands, and left Zellers with hardly anything to sell.

[The Yen Man]

Originally Posted by macker

Can anyone in this thread honestly say that they have bought something at Zellers in the last five years? If so what? Almost like they stopped trying a few years back....Too bad the dates aren't bumped up to 2012 as it is still nothing to get too excited about yet....they are likely going into Mexico also...

Actually, I bought a water dispenser from the Sunridge store about a year ago. It was advertising for 50% off on the weekly flyers, so I went specifically to buy that. Before that, I had not stepped foot in a Zellers for 3+ years.

[Knalus]

Originally Posted by macker

Can anyone in this thread honestly say that they have bought something at Zellers in the last five years? If so what? Almost like they stopped trying a few years back....Too bad the dates aren't bumped up to 2012 as it is still nothing to get too excited about yet....they are likely going into Mexico also...

Cheap DVD's

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

it is funny how a thread about one store buying another can turn into a barrage at pot shots about where people shop and their socio-economic status.....

If by funny, you mean HILARIOUSLY funny... then yes.

Ok I'm ready to go to hell now

[Ducay]

I got a toaster there a couple months back; was on sale for 50%. Steal of a deal!

[getbak]

I used to live just south of Chinook, and at Christmas time they stayed open until 11pm every night, so I'd head over there to buy stuff for my nieces and nephews at about 10pm and get all my shopping done in about a half an hour without fighting any crowds or struggling to find parking.

[Barnet Flame]

Originally Posted by macker

Can anyone in this thread honestly say that they have bought something at Zellers in the last five years? If so what? Almost like they stopped trying a few years back....Too bad the dates aren't bumped up to 2012 as it is still nothing to get too excited about yet....they are likely going into Mexico also...

I bought an onion dicer last April when I had an extra few days to kill because of the volcano.

The dicer is crap.

[merlin]

I bought a diaper genie there that was half price, that was 14 months ago

[darockwilder]

Originally Posted by Slava

Yes, they did. The Bay is a private US company though and sold Zellers.

On a bit of a tangent there have been rumours over the past couple years about The Bay going public.

The Bay used to be public, then they were bought up by a rich American (some guy called Zucker) like 5 years ago. Company went private again and he had a lot of fairly decent ideas for them. Then he promptly died and his wife took over. She sold fairly quickly to some group that owns Lord and Taylor's stores in the states. HBC is still private at this point, but they may be public again. They also own Fields (score!).

On a "commercials I can't stand" tangent, I sure hate Bonnie Brooks and here nasally monotone voice advertising on the radio for stuff "only at the Bay".

[Vena]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

I worked at Zellers in high school and a couple years of university.

It was a fine job, I guess. Much better than fast food.

There were a lot of things that bothered me about the way the store was run. Not the store management, but the direction from "head office". A lot of peeves are probably common to many retail jobs.

The biggest thing is that as employees, our number one job was to get people to sign up for the HBC credit card. That was the only thing keeping the store afloat - the 28.8% interest rate charged to your customers who overextended themselves. A lot of items the store would lose money selling, with the hopes that people will get dinged with interest charges. I think I recall that only two Zellers stores in Calgary actually turned a profit through sales. The credit card business made up the difference.

I'm not an economist, but I sure got the feeling it was only a matter of time before the chain closed up shop if that is the business model. Wal-Mart is usually cheaper. I don't think a Canadian company can compete with that. What Zellers should have done was work on improving the image of the store, so it approaches what a Target store is in the states. Or maybe HBC was just holding off changing the brand, waiting for the inevitable purchase.

I had the same experience as you. I ended up hating the credit card. I didn't have the heart to push it on anyone like my supervisor's wanted me to do.

I got in trouble once because a manager was watching over me. I had three orders while he was there. On the first two, I did the spiel even after they made it clear that they didn't want the card. On the third order, I asked if the couple had a HBC Credit Card for their purchase that was about $3.50. They didn't understand what I was talking about since English wasn't their primary language. I let the whole thing drop. After they left the manger came up to me and gave me heck for not trying to sell this couple a credit card. I felt like scum.

On the other hand, there was a lady who just pushed the card on people. She basically just put the sign up form in front of every customer. The store did great for referrals because of her. Pissed me off that they would tolerate such behavior, but it was the only way they made money.

Had it not been for that, the job would have been so much more tolerable.

[Reggie Dunlop]

RIBTOR Sales for the win!

[calgaryrocks]

team Canada 2010 olympic poster for $5

[amorak]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I got a toaster there a couple months back; was on sale for 50%. Steal of a deal!

I bought that toaster from you and the magnito stopped working 5 monhts later.