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[Deadshot]

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.

Very well said.   I know the Zellers in Stratford has been hurting for quite some time, so time will tell if this is a good thing or bad with Target's buy out.    Though I still miss Consumers......

[Pete The Greek]

I don't miss Consumers store.  I hated filling out that form and finding out the item wasn't in stock when you were at the counter.  And you couldn't cherry pick an item if you wanted to.  The only thing I like was the catalog they sent out every year. 

[Pete The Greek]

Very interesting......  The Zellers name may stick around. 

U.S. discount retailer Target might have to use a different name in Canada if it loses a fight over naming rights.

The Canadian owner of Fairweather and International Clothiers stores has owned the name Target Apparel for 10 years. In July, the U.S. retailer filed a challenge with Canada's trademark office, claiming the Fairweather owner hasn't used the Target name.

The Canadian company has since opened stores called Target Apparel in Sudbury, Ont. and Nanaimo, B.C.

The company that owns Fairweather has until the end of February to prove it has been using the name.

The U.S. retailer says it plans to open about 200 stores in Canada over the next 10 years.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2011/01/1 ... spute.html

[ARROW]

I don't miss Consumers store.  I hated filling out that form and finding out the item wasn't in stock when you were at the counter.  And you couldn't cherry pick an item if you wanted to.  The only thing I like was the catalog they sent out every year. 

Yep, Consumers stank as a retail outlet for that reason. I discovered them late in the game, about 5 years before they closed down-and I tried about a 1/2 dozen times to order something from them.
Never once, not once did they have the items I was looking for in stock, either in-store, or from their mail-order warehouse ( and yes, those items were always toys) so I gave up on them fairly quickly.
There catalogues were great though--very enticing.

[canprime]

Could go either way, but it seems Fairweather just opened stores after the filing to claim use.  Unfortunately that probably won't work in their favor.

In the end I figure target will work something out with Fairweather, but who knows for sure.

[darth cujo]

I don't know what target taking over will do for exclusives in the future, but after the black snake and rhino fiasco (not to mention wedge's x-wing and the big wing TIE), they have been fantastic with Star Wars stuff. They brought in both Hoth battle packs, both the vintage TIE and Snowspeeder, and some other exclusives, all at about the same price as the US. Even cheaper when they went on sale.

Also, lately TRU has been getting the majority of the SW exclusives, again at about the same price or cheaper than the US when factoring in sales. There are very few recent SW exclusives that haven't made it here. At least original trilogy stuff, I can't say about prequel or clone wars stuff since I don't touch the stuff. So it seemed zellers learned their lesson from the year before.

What will target do? Who knows. It's no guarantee we'll get the exclusives, but recent history has shown a much better track record for exclusives in general than before. Perhaps hasbro canada has helped in this regard, I dunno.


As for consumers distributing, I loved it when the catalogue came out. I used to get everything I wanted from them no problem when I went right after the catalogie came out. If you waited too long though, it was hit and miss. But I had great luck with them!   I got tons of joes there and at the jane and finch towers.

[formbx257]

I'm not sorry to see Zellers go, since one took over the K-Mart I bought my first G.I. Joe from.  However, despite being expensive, the toy selection there is still better than my nearest TRU (which has begun to improve only recently) and Wal-Mart (their quality has actually gone down).
Hopefully, the takeover will generate some competition with Wal-Mart that will benefit customers of both stores. 
Consumers Distributing (RIP) was always good to me, maybe the poor stock was a regional thing?

[Pete The Greek]

Could go either way, but it seems Fairweather just opened stores after the filing to claim use.  Unfortunately that probably won't work in their favor.

In the end I figure target will work something out with Fairweather, but who knows for sure.

Looks like it's going to get ugly...

Toronto-based retail chain Fairweather Ltd. has filed a $250-million lawsuit against Target Corporation in federal court, days after the U.S. discount giant announced plans to expand north of the border.

According to documents filed Monday, Fairweather is also requesting an injunction to keep the American firm from using the name Target in Canada, claiming that its expansion north would cause Fairweather to lose customers, devalue the "Target Apparel" name and lose control of its reputation and trademark.

It's also seeking to have the U.S. retailer surrender ownership of targetapparel.com, which sends users to Target's American website.

Fairweather has owned the Canadian rights to that name for a decade in Canada, court documents state, and has operated a clothing store with the name "Target Apparel" in Toronto since 2005. It also recently opened retail stores under the name "Target Apparel" in Sudbury, Ont. and Nanaimo, B.C.

The American Target chain announced Thursday that it is paying the Hudson's Bay Company $1.83 billion to acquire up to 220 Zellers stores from the 279 that are currently open across Canada.

Speculation has been rife the company was considering a move north of the border for some time, but the U.S. company only confirmed its international expansion plans in June of last year.

It had been stymied by the hunt for suitable locations, and most recently, the economic slowdown. Now it will have to contend with a multimillion-dollar copyright dispute.

Target filed a challenge with Canada's trademark office in July in which it claimed that Fairweather's owner, International Clothiers, hasn't been using the Target name.

The Canadian retailer has until the end of February to prove that it has used the name over the past three years, or that it intends to use it, to retain ownership.

Fairweather has not commented on the legal action.

Target spokesperson Jessica Carlson said she could not comment on the pending legal proceedings, but said her company plans to use the same name and logo.

"There really is nothing that prevents Target from using the Target name and branding elements in Canada the same way we do in the United States," she told The Canadian Press.

In 2005, Fairweather lost ownership of the Target trademark temporarily. The American retailer sought to have it cancelled, which Industry Canada did. But it was restored later, following a ruling by The Federal Court of Appeal.

Target said last week that its Canadian expansion deal won't mean an immediate end to the Zellers brand, but is rather the first step in opening between 100 and 150 of its own stores here by 2014.

The Minneapolis-based company expects to spend approximately $1 billion to remodel and reopen the existing Zellers stores under its own brand. The company also says it will have hired up to 20,000 people once its stores are operational.

Target's more than 1,700 stores across the U.S. have long been a favourite of shoppers on the hunt for what the retailer has dubbed "discount-chic." But it remains to be seen how Target will stack up in Canada.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... er-110118/

[Stealth Viper]

Sounds to me like fairweather opened stores since 2005 just for this purpose - to sue the American Giant and get lots of money when it decided to enter Canada. It bought the trademark name soley for this purpose IMHO.

[morgardee]

Sounds to me like fairweather opened stores since 2005 just for this purpose - to sue the American Giant and get lots of money when it decided to enter Canada. It bought the trademark name soley for this purpose IMHO.

I agree.

[bandonov]

Sounds to me like fairweather opened stores since 2005 just for this purpose - to sue the American Giant and get lots of money when it decided to enter Canada. It bought the trademark name soley for this purpose IMHO.

Fairweather is going up Golaith but they are no David.  They do not have the money to fight them and Target can easily keep this in the courts and bleed them dry of money.

[Pete The Greek]

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20 ... da-110526/

The first 105 stores to be converted.  Where the fuck is the one at the Oshawa Centre?

Canada's first Target stores, by province:

Alberta
Chinook Centre, Calgary
Forest Lawn Shopping Centre, Calgary
Market Mall, Calgary
Shoppes at Shawnessy, Calgary
Signal Hill Centre, Calgary
Sunridge Mall, Calgary
Bonnie Doon, Edmonton
Kingsway Garden Mall, Edmonton
Mill Woods Town Centre, Edmonton
Prairie Mall, Grande Prairie
Bower Place, Red Deer
St. Albert Centre, St. Albert
Sherwood Park Mall, Sherwood Park

British Columbia
Abbotsford Power Centre, Abbotsford
Metropolis at Metrotown, Burnaby
Discovery Harbour Shopping Centre, Campbell River
Cottonwood Mall, Chilliwack
Coquitlam Centre, Coquitlam
Driftwood Mall, Courtenay
Tamarack Mall, Cranbrook
Scottsdale Mall, Delta
Willowbrook Shopping Centre, Langley
Haney Place Mall, Maple Ridge
Nanaimo North Town Centre, Nanaimo
Pine Centre, Prince George
Oakridge Shopping Centre, Vancouver
Village Green Mall, Vernon
Tillicum Mall, Victoria

Manitoba
Shoppers Mall, Brandon
Grant Park, Winnipeg
Kildonan Place Shopping Centre, Winnipeg
Polo Park Shopping Centre, Winnipeg
Southdale Centre, Winnipeg

New Brunswick
McAllister Place, Saint John

Newfoundland and Labrador
Corner Brook, Corner Brook
Cabot Square, St. John's

Nova Scotia
Bedford Place, Bedford
Mic Mac Mall, Dartmouth

Ontario
Durham Centre, Ajax
Aurora Shopping Centre, Aurora
Bramalea City Centre, Brampton
Shoppers World Brampton, Brampton
Trinity Common, Brampton
Burlington Mall, Burlington
Millcroft Centre, Burlington
Cambridge Centre, Cambridge
Woodbine Centre, Etobicoke
Gates of Fergus, Fergus
175 Stone Road W., Guelph
Centre Mall, Hamilton
South Hamilton Square, Hamilton
Hazeldean Mall, Kanata
Cataraqui Town Centre, Kingston
Lindsay Square Mall, Lindsay
Masonville Place, London
Westmount Shopping Centre, London
Milton Mall Shopping Centre, Milton
Erin Mills Town Centre, Mississauga
Square One, Mississauga
Meadowlands Shopping Centre, Nepean
Upper Canada Mall, Newmarket
1899 Algonquin Ave., North Bay
Centerpoint Mall, North York
Orillia Square Mall, Orillia
Place D'Orleans, Orleans
Five Points Mall, Oshawa
Bayshore Shopping Centre, Ottawa
Billings Bridge Plaza, Ottawa
RioCan St. Laurent, Ottawa
Hillcrest Mall, Richmond Hill
Bridlewood Mall, Scarborough
County Fair Mall, Smiths Falls
Niagara Pen Centre, St. Catharines
Stratford Mall, Stratford
Sudbury Supermall, Sudbury
Intercity Shopping Centre, Thunder Bay
Cloverdale Mall, Toronto
Shoppers World Danforth, Toronto
East York Town Centre, Toronto
Flamborough Power Centre, Waterdown
Conestoga Mall, Waterloo
Taunton Gardens Power Centre, Whitby
Devonshire Mall, Windsor

Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown Mall, Charlottetown

Quebec
Galeries d'Anjou, Anjou
Faubourg Boisbriand, Boisbriand
Carrefour Angrignon, Lasalle
Mega Centre Notre-Dame, Laval
Galeries Chagnon , Levis
Place Longueuil, Longueuil
Place Alexis Nihon, Montreal
Place Vertu, Montreal
Terrarium Shopping Centre, Pointe Claire
Les Galeries De La Capitale, Quebec City
Place Fleur De Lys, Quebec City
Place Laurier, Quebec
Le Carrefour Rimouski, Rimouski
Promenades Saint-Bruno, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville
Carrefour Saint-Georges, Saint-Georges
Carrefour Richelieu, Saint- Jean sur-Richelieu
Carrefour du Nord, Saint Jerome
Carrefour de L'Estrie, Sherbrooke
Les Rivieres Shopping Centre, Trois Rivieres

Saskatchewan
Northgate Mall, Regina
The Centre, Saskatoon