Description
Zellers was a Canadian discount store chain founded by Walter P. Zeller in 1931. It was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978, and after a series of acquisitions and expansions, peaked with 350 locations in 1999. However, fierce competition and an inability to adapt during the retail apocalypse resulted in Zellers losing significant ground in the 2000s.
In January 2011, HBC announced that it would sell the lease agreements for up to 220 Zellers stores to the US chain Target for $1.825 billion. In turn, Target announced its intention to convert many of them to Canadian locations of Target, and re-sell the remainder to other parties such as Walmart Canada, resulting in their liquidation and eventual closure. While HBC retained 64 Zellers locations, it announced on July 26, 2012, that all of them would be liquidated and closed by March 31, 2013, due to their lack of profitability. Ultimately, all but three selected stores were closed in 2013.
After the chain ceased, HBC converted the three Zellers-branded locations into liquidation outlets for The Bay (since renamed Hudson's Bay), with the last of those stores closing on January 26, 2020. As of 2023 however, the Zellers brand name has been formally reintroduced as a store-within-a-store concept inside select Hudson's Bay department stores, complemented by online shopping.
