After a 10-year hiatus, Zellers has announced the locations of its first 25 in-store “experiences.” Stores are expected to open at Hudson’s Bay branches across Canada this spring.
Parent company Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC) closed the last of the original Zellers stores in 2013, but announced in 2022 that it plans to bring them back. The new generation will offer a first digital experience, complemented by physical locations and an “index of the nostalgia Canadians know and love,” according to a press release.
Each location will be between 8,000 and 10,000 square feet and will sell “home decor, toys, babies, clothing and pets,” according to HBC. The stores and e-commerce website will launch simultaneously, although HBC has not confirmed when.
Here are the locations of the new stores, by province.
BRITISH COLUMBIA
- Pacific Centre, downtown Vancouver
- Aberdeen Mall, Kamloops
- Guildford Town Centre, Surrey
- 7 Oaks Shopping Centre, Abbotsford
ALBERTA
- Kingsway Garden Mall, Edmonton
- Medicine Hat Mall, Medicine Hat
- Sunridge Mall, Calgary
SASKATCHEWAN
MANITOBA
ONTARIO
- Erin Mills, Mississauga
- Burlington Mall, Burlington
- White Oaks Shopping Centre, London
- Downtown Scarborough, Toronto
- Pen Center Mall, St. Catharines
- Cambridge Centre, Cambridge
- Rideau Centre, Ottawa
- St. Lawrence Centre, Ottawa
- Downtown Cataraqui, Kingston
QUEBEC
- Place Rosemere, Rosemere
- Galeries d’Anjou, Ville Anjou
- Carrefour de l’Estrie, Sherbrooke
- Les Promenades Gatineau, Gatineau
- The Galleries of the Capital, Quebec
NEW SCOTLAND
- Micmac Shopping Centre, Dartmouth
- Mayflower Shopping Centre, Sydney
WHY HAS ZELLERS CLOSED?
In early 2011, the American department store chain Target acquired the leases for 189 HBC Zellers locations for $1.825 billion.
Of these 189 locations, 125 were converted into Target stores, leaving HBC with 64 remaining Zellers stores.
In 2012, HBC announced that keeping the retailer alive was not financially viable. She closed her last Canadian Zellers store in 2013.
Zellers locations converted into Target stores survived for a few years, but in 2015 the American retailer removed from Canada.
– With files from CTV News Toronto cross-platform editor Abby O’Brien
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