If Target properly manages the stores they take over, I think it will ultimately be a good thing over the long term.
Zellers stores often look like a hurricane hit them, the toy departments are typically the worst of all. I have found Target stores to be well laid out, and almost always very clean and presentable.
In most of my visits to the Target chain, I have purchased something ( almost always toys) so their selection and stocks on hand have been just great for me.
But those are stateside, and the Canadian versions of these stores can well be a different animal.
In the short term ( first 5 years), I suspect this could benefit Cdn consumers because you can just bet Walmart will react to their presence here. I would expect competitive ....nay, aggressive pricing on a lot of goods.......toys being one category of them.
Here's the thing though.......if Target runs and stocks these stores just like Zellers did, with the same goods.......and not the way Target handles brands stateside--then these stores will be kaput by 2020, at the latest. If all they offer is more of the same, then Walmart will beat these guys clean.
If they give the , ahem..........for lack of a better phrase, "Target experience" to us up here, then they might just stand apart enough from places like Walmart to build their own brand and succeed. ( I have always found Target Stores to be very different to shop in, they are distinctly different from other chains, I find.)
As far as us toy collectors go......honestly, I don't see Target offering much beyond the major brands anyway--stuff that we can get in just about any store. Exclusives.........I think are a pipe dream, unless Target decides to handle products in both Canada and the USA under the same veil.
Obviously chains like TRU and Walmart still treat their stores in separate countries as if they are practically completely separate chains only sharing the same name. Its still hit-and-miss as to what we get.
