(Updated 10 a.m., Jan. 15)
Target announces plans to shutdown Canadian operations
Place d’Orléans store among 133 to be closed across the country
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

The Target store at Place d'Orléans will soon be closing after it was announced that the American reatailer will be ceasing its Canadian operations. Fred Sherwin/Photo

Place d’Orléans will be looking for a new anchor tenant after Target announced Wednesday that it plans to close all of its Canadian stores.

According to reports, the Minneapolis-based retailer expects to report over $5.5 billion in pretax losses on discontinued operations in 2014 and 2015, the majority of which can be attributed to its failed Canadian operations.

The announcement will leave over 17,600 employees out of work once the company has liquidated its Canadian inventory. Target says that nearly all of the existing employees will receive a minimum of 16 weeks compensation, including wages and benefits during the wind-down period.

The Place d’Orleans Target store opened in the fall of 2013 to mixed reviews and never really caught on with local shoppers who remained loyal to competing retailers like Wal-Mart, Canadian Tire and HBC.

The questions now is, who’s going to replace Target. A number of companies mentioned in media reports about Target’s closing already have existing operations in the area like the one’s mentioned above, so it’s anybody’s guess who will occupy the space that was completely renovated by Target after they purchased Zellers from HBC in 2013.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

Return to top

Return to Front Page