HBC selling about half of its Zellers stores to US "Target"

[Darren Dirt]

http://www2.hbc.com/hbc/mediacentre/press/hbc/press.asp?prId=393

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zellers#Sale_of_leases_to_Target


well, it's been fun having a Canadian identity when shopping for household items... only the Dollar Stores are left I suppose.

[Tom]

Not all of the stores will be gone, nor will any of HBC's other stores.

[Mr. Analog]

Soon it will just be Wal*Mart VS Other Huge Entity

Very ugly...

[Darren Dirt]

Calgary article that had me nodding and saying "oh yeah, I remember *that*" a dozen times...
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Zellers+will+leave+behind+happy+memories/4115631/story.html

Woodward's ... Eaton's ... Woolco ...

From the beginning, Zellers wasn't a store that set out to dazzle shoppers with luxury. Launched in the early years of the Great Depression, it was once billed as the shopping destination of "thrifty Canadians."

While Zellers may not quite rate as a consumer icon, for many people it will still be the place where they bought a child's first pencil kit for school or a first bike. It will be part of a happy memory.

Or maybe they'll just remember Zeddy.

[Lazybones]

HBC it self has been US owned for some time now

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson's_Bay_Company
"The company is owned by Hudson's Bay Trading Company, the portfolio company of the United States private equity firm NRDC Equity Partners, which also owns Lord & Taylor, a high-end department store chain in the U.S."

[Darren Dirt]

yup.

still nice to see how long Zellers lasted -- for the last 5+ years they have made great OBVIOUS efforts to show their Canadian-ness, the red (in contrast with Walmart's r+w+b) is gonna be replaced by a bullseye... so sad for those of us, again, can relate to the feelings expressed in the Calgary Herald article.

Where am I gonna get my cheap-but-not-2ndhand clothes now?

[Mr. Analog]

Zellers seems to be deeply ingrained in the brains of those who grew up in the Depression, my grandmother goes there at least once a week and has done so for as long as I've known her.

I miss the old luxury stores, I can remember when The Bay was actually upscale and Eatons had a fancy restaurant AND a lunch counter, now they are dead old husks.

Remember when The Bay used to have the big Christmas displays? That was cool!