Target Corporation has announced this community will host one of its first 24 stores in Canada.
Target purchased the leasehold interests of 189 sites currently operated by Zellers Inc. and plans to eventually open 125 to 135 stores in Canada.
Company spokesman Amy Reilly said the majority of the first stores will open in March and early April in 2013 – after undergoing extensive changes.
She said current Zellers stores will continue to operate for about nine months, and the work to open the new Target stores will take up to six months each. She added the company will spend $10 to $11 million per store.
In addition to Fergus, other locations among the first to host a Target will include Toronto (four), London (two), Kawartha Lakes, Newmarket, Milton, Cambridge, Mississauga, Ajax, Aurora, Orillia, Brampton, Windsor, Burlington, Hamilton and Guelph.
“We are excited to announce the location of these first 24 Target stores in Ontario,” said Target Canada president Tony Fisher in a press release.
“In addition to providing Canadian guests with an exceptional shopping experience, Target looks forward to continuing our strong reputation of being a good neighbour in the Canadian communities in which we will do business.”
Reilly said one of the hallmarks of a Target store is its customer service. The store motto is “expect more for less” and she added the company is “very focused on guest services.”
To that end, she said each store will have approximately 150 to 200 workers, which the company calls team members.
She said that is “more than double” most Zellers stores.
Hiring will begin in 2012 and the company plans to consider Zellers employees for jobs and to make it easy for them to apply for those jobs.
Reilly said Target is the first discount sales company to work with exclusive designers such as Michael Graves, an architect who designs products for the home and, last year, the store began a successful relationship with Missoni of Italy, which provides unique clothing, housewares, bed, bath and other home products.
A spokesman for the Hudson’s Bay Company, which owns Zellers, said in an interview the current store will operate until September and there will be liquidation sales starting “approximately 12 weeks” before the closing.
Tiffany Bourgé said Zellers stores have approximately 100 employees each, although the company does not list how many are working in individual stores.
She said they will be offered “a comprehensive career transition program.”
As well, Bourgé said because the stores are operating for the better part of this year, employees will “for the most part” be able to continue working at the store until it closes.
Anyone interested in working for Target is encouraged to visit www.Target.ca/careers to learn more about job opportunities and Target’s fun, collaborative work environment.
Target intends to announce the opening of additional stores in Canada in the coming months.
The Minneapolis-based company has 1,767 stores across the United States and at also retails from Target.com.
In addition, it operates a credit card segment that offers credit card products.
The company has also operated in a community minded way. Since 1946, Target has given five per cent of its income through community grants and programs; today, that equals more than $3 million a week.
For more information about Target’s commitment to corporate responsibility, visit Target.com/hereforgood.
