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rfmcdonaldCBC noted that many of the spaces rented out by Target won't easily find new tenants.
CBC Prince Edward Island looked at the situation in Charlottetown, where the local Target is one of the anchor stores of the Charlottetown Mall. A hundred people will lose their jobs there.
Many of the people interviewed by The Guardian were not surprised by the closure. The question of what will happen to the mall absent one of its anchor stores--Zellers had the space before Target--remains to be answered.
As U.S. retailer Target throws in the towel on Canada, its landlords will be left with empty stores to fill — 133 of them, to be exact.
[. . .]
A single, large retailer could possibly step in to fill the empty spaces left by Target. One group of Bay Street analysts sees two possible suitors.
"Walmart would kill to get these [store] sites; Loblaw would kill to keep Walmart from getting these sites," wrote CIBC World Markets retail analysts Perry Caicco, Mark Petrie, Matt Bank, and John Zamparo in a research note to clients, noting that Loblaw is threatened by Walmart's aggressive move into the grocery business in Canada.
Target wants to dispose of its stores as efficiently as possible, they added, so it can wind down its money-losing Canadian operations quickly. Walmart and Loblaw could afford to swallow up the leases on all 133 locations, which could sell for $1.8 to $2 billion, wrote Caicco and his colleagues. Others think a single buyer is unlikely. Patrick Sullivan of Primaris says many current Target locations are simply too close to existing Walmart and Loblaw stores.
CBC Prince Edward Island looked at the situation in Charlottetown, where the local Target is one of the anchor stores of the Charlottetown Mall. A hundred people will lose their jobs there.
Kathy Hambly, executive director of the Greater Charlottetown Area Chamber of Commerce, says Target was a good employer in the city and the news came as quite a surprise.
[. . .]
"This came as a big shock today, because we certainly knew that, while they were very challenged, they were very optimistic about their future when we met with them last fall," said Hambly.
"It's certainly a great concern for the employees at Target and also for the Charlottetown Mall," said Hambly.
"You know, the Charlottetown Mall is certainly a major shopping destination for all Islanders and Target is their anchor tenant, or one of their anchor tenants. And it will be difficult, I'm sure, in this climate to find another retailer to occupy that size of space. So that certainly will be a major concern for them going forward."
Hambly says she was pleased to hear that Target will be providing some short-term financial relief for displaced workers.
Many of the people interviewed by The Guardian were not surprised by the closure. The question of what will happen to the mall absent one of its anchor stores--Zellers had the space before Target--remains to be answered.
