When I was younger I loved going to Target in Michigan, they had great products for really cheap prices ( I loved their clearance section and still own some of the clothes I bought back then). As I got older I started enjoying their makeup section along with their home decor. The stores were always clean, employees were friendly and the product selection was amazing. So when Target announced they would be opening a Canadian franchise I was overjoyed. I couldn't wait for my favorite American store to come to a city near me!
Upon my first trip to the Target store in Guelph (closest one to me at the time of opening), I noticed something was different... Yes, the red and white bullseye was there and the red and kahki uniforms were the same but something was off... My absolute favorite part of American Target stores was missing - the food court! If you've never been to a Target in the United States, the brief explanation is that Target USA stores have a mini food court inside them near the front doors. They serve hot dogs, french fries, soft pretzels and fountain drinks (along with other concession stand food - but it's so good!) . It is a tradition for my family to pick up a soft pretzel to start off our Target shopping trips. I was disappointed Target Canada decided to replace that food court type thing with a Starbucks. How very un-Canadian, if they wanted to go with a coffee chain there are plenty of CANADIAN options they could've chosen to help support our economy. I think that if they'd decided to go the traditional route, a mini food court would've brought some additional income in straight to Target, not drawn out to Starbucks.
The store stock in Guelph was always mediocre. Sure, there were some cute clothes but they were priced much higher than the US counterparts - and clearance racks were nowhere to be seen. The home decor was nice, but there was a very limited selection and frequently empty shelves. The cosmetics section was nice, and I was very excited to see they had brought some of the "American" makeup brands over - such as Pixi, Sonia Kashuk and ELF. But then another problem arose. The ELF cosmetics were outrageously overpriced. I am a loyal ELF fan and frequently buy their products in the USA, so I was appalled when I saw a typically $1 brush selling for $4 in the store. Or a $3 lipstick selling for $8 in-store. You know there's a major problem when you can shop online, pay the high shipping cost plus currency conversion and still get the products for cheaper than buying them in a Target Canada store.
Finally, a store in my home town opened up. The stock was much nicer, more organized and they had sizable inventory. Prices still were a little higher than Wal-Mart (where I typically shop), but there were usually some pretty good sales. The staff were friendly and always eager to help, something I don't find very common in Wal-Mart stores.
Eventually, I started noticing that Target would have advertised items in their flyer, but when you'd get to the store that weekend (two-three days after the flyer came out) that item was no longer in stock and employees had no clue when - or even if they would be getting any more in. This was a major frustration during Christmas of 2014 when I had my heart set on a beautiful fake Christmas tree at an amazing price, only to find out my local store received only a very few and they'd already been sold out - with no chance of a restock.
If you viewed Target Canada's Facebook page pre-closing, you'd see dozens upon dozens of complaints (lack of inventory, high prices, etc.) on their wall. But you'd also see quite a few suggestions on what to change in order to get better sales and draw more people in (making their website actually show store inventory, products carried, offer online shipping, etc. being the main issues commented on). As far as I can tell, Target Canada took absolutely no interest in what their consumers had to say - no changes were made.
The other issue being that Target essentially "took over" Zellers. Once Zellers had left, Target moved into several of the old Zellers locations. This immediately made people think that Target was going to have similar pricing to Zellers, or at the very least similar pricing to their American stores - which was definitely not the case.
I was a loyal Target customer, and there were plenty of things I absolutely loved about them. Mainly the fact that they had the absolute best price matching policy of any store. They would price-match Canada-wide, and even price matched online website prices - something Wal-Mart refuses to do. Target also had amazing clearances, I saved so much money during those sales, usually 75% off or more!
But after their horrendous liquidation sale (prices marked up the night before the sale, store stock being very iffy, prices not coming up correctly, etc.) I am not surprised they are leaving. I'm terribly disappointed in the utter failure Target was in Canada, and I think they could've done a much better job. Hell, the war of 1812 lasted longer than they did here.
Finally, my best wishes to the employees who found out they were out of a job through social media (shame on you, Target.)
Update 03/13/2015: Target Canada announced the closing of 16 stores (including all the stores in my hometown). The areas I was interested in never even reached 50% off. Cosmetics have remained 30% off the entire sale, and that's as low as they're going to get. Target Canada can't even do liquidation right.
Final Update: As of the end of April 2015, all Target Canada stores have been closed - a month earlier than the predicted closing date. Guess they couldn't get out of Canada fast enough.
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