After a decade-long hiatus, an iconic Canadian retail chain is making a comeback, and Winnipeg will be home to one of 25 locations across the country.
Zellers, which closed nationwide in 2013, will reopen inside select The Bay stores, including the one at St. Vital Centre.
The former retail chain, owned by the Hudson Bay Company, was started in 1931 in Ontario, reaching its peak in the 1990s with hundreds of Canadian stores known for the “where the lowest price is the law” slogan.
Most of the Zellers leases were purchased by U.S. retail giant Target, and converted into the short-lived Target Canada, which lasted only two years.
The author of a book on Canadian retail says the revived chain will have to determine its identity in a hurry if it wants to be successful.
“They love the restaurant, they love the nostalgia… but unless Zellers can come out with specific price and product that matches the traditional value — i.e. dollar store-plus, maybe — customers aren’t going to nibble,” said Bruce Winder, author of Retail Before, During and After COVID-19.
Winder told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that if the business sticks to its former principles — offering unique goods at discount prices — it has a chance to be successful, but it can’t expect to be a hit with consumers based on nostalgia alone.
“I’m a little nervous about that … I see it as more of a nostalgia play, and nostalgia doesn’t always equate to money or economics,” he said.
“Are they really going for this, and trying to bring back a large discount option to Walmart, or is this just … we’ll throw some spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks?”
There’s no word yet on when the stores will open, but eager customers can sign up for updates on store openings on the company’s website.