The (Ridiculous) Failure of Target Canada | Unrealistic Expectations | History in the Dark

[@grouchomarcus]

As a former employee, Target fails to do their on the ground research. They found out that many of their Portland shoppers were from Vancouver and opened up three stores, all low performing. Why? Washington has a large sales tax and Oregon has none. Our store also received Target Canada merchandise, I could tell since the code numbers were different, speaking of logistics issues. I used to joke that we worked harder than them since we were expected to go the extra inch but they only had to go the extra centimeter.

[@TheMysteryDriver]

It's only 6.5% sales tax

[@tegantalks9612]

I actually worked for Target Canada for a few months in 2013/2014 and many of the guests would complain that Target Canada didn’t offer the same deals or quality of products that they could get in the US. Also because debit cards work differently in Canada than they do in the US, a lot of people hated the Target debit cards they had us push.

[@NickNab]

I wanted to like Target, but exactly as was said, there was no stock, and the prices were way too high. None of the details were made public to us at the time, but it seemed like they just thought, as most retailers do, that we're an infinite money well that can be harvested from indefinitely with no harm to the money supply, when in reality we're just broke.

[@rungo0]

What Canadian (and surely surveys) said - We like and want American Target stores with American Target store products and prices. What they got - Not that Customers - Nah bud, we're out Target Corporate - *Shocked Pikachu Face"

[@haydendegrow945]

As a Canadian who saw an anchor Zellers store close, a Target open in its place...and then close, and a LOWE'S open in ITS place... and then close, i was beginning to think that those places were just cursed without their Zellers. And just for a fun fact, I lived near one of the Target distribution centres, and i saw more Walmart trucks driving through town than I saw Target trucks... it was kind of weird...

[@TheEDFLegacy]

😳

[@1981deloreanfan]

I swear the big box store building near me is cursed. Every chain that went into that particular location went out of business. Caldor: Bankrupt, Ames: Bankrupt, Building 19: Bankrupt, National Wholesale Liquidators: lost lease, Ocean State Job Lot: TBD

[@Ironman1o1]

Are you from Prince George? Because thats exacly what happened here. Now its a save on

[@haydendegrow945]

@Ironman1o1 No actually I'm originally from Regina, SK but now live in Yorkton, SK. Only difference for us is that Regina's building has not been repurposed. It remains an empty shell that is draining the life out of its mall

[@Ironman1o1]

Man, thats crazy that the chain of events happened with the same three stores in two diffrent cities

[@Truckerboy1234]

The abandoned target here in Kitchener, On. is still there, standing as it was when it was fully cleared out nearly a decade ago. Pretty eerie seeing it left there after so many years. You can still see the faded Target logo on the wall, when you look inside its completely barren, and despite being vacant since about 2015 nothing has been done with the building since. So it's just been sitting there, completely empty for all this time.

[@TheMysteryDriver]

Pretty common when big box stores close

[@chevellerr]

As former Canadian military I will never forget why I stopped going to Target. In November each year almost every store in the country has donation boxes for veterans and you can get a poppies from them to wear and show respect. Target corporate made a public statement that got blasted all over the news that the donation boxes were not allowed and staff could not wear a poppy. That was it. Pissed several people off.

[@peanutbutterjellytme]

A great analysis. Pretty much spot on. I went to my local Zellers all the time. When it became Target and finally opened, the shelves were bare and everything was overpriced. I never went back and wasn’t sad to see them fail. To add insult to injury, when merchandise Target was being liquidated, they jacked up all of the prices such that the new liquidation “sale” price after the blanket discount was actually higher than their already too high regular price. People were able to peel back the new sticker and reveal the lower regular price sticker underneath. There are many US companies who have successfully entered the Canadian market but a long list of them that have failed because they didn’t bother to read the room. Krispy Kreme, Target, Lowe’s, Nordstrom, and more.

[@le4864.]

The Target scheduled to open in Brampton, didn't even complete the renovations by the time they pulled out of Canada. But a lot of businesses have left Canada due to the cost of doing business here in Canada. Canada's economy is crap. Nothing to be proud of.

[@dmtribaltyphoon5001]

God i miss Zellers especially the instore restaurant.

[@trainglen22]

Same here!

[@toastrave7820]

yeah zellers was the goat

[@wmarkdyer]

I lived in Markham and there was no Zellers anywhere near us. I think there might have been one in Richmond Hill. Too far to shop at a discount store.

[@wt3833]

Regardless of the failure in Canada, the CEO still got a 65 million USD severance package. Congrats on your failure? :)

[@TheEDFLegacy]

You took my suggestion! Hope you enjoyed the insanity as much as I did when I saw it live. 😅

[@przemekkozlowski7835]

In my area, Target took over a Sears location in a fairly busy mall. I went there multiple times but was underwhelmed each time. There just was nothing there to excite me. The mall had other retailers and specialty stores that offered very similar products at the same prices. I stopped going there and frankly missed when it closed.

[@Primal2229]

It still sucks because locally they forced Walmart to compete and price match. It was actual competition for both stores and it worked in the consumers favor. Its been years now but ever since next to no roll back or clearance sale stuff aside from holiday shit after the holiday its for. They don't price match anything at all. And lets be honest, Canadian tire is just a crappier version of Target. Shit, Canadian tire moved to where Target was and they barely changed the lay out at all.

[@Cousin_Uli]

I got to work for them for most of their time in canada. It was a pretty interesting time going from a brand new multi million dollar reno location to a liquidation that fast. The majority of stores were opened in areas either with extreme competition from other retailers, their own nearby Target Canada's, and Target's in the USA across the border. It was hilarious how they didn't foresee that being a problem. They did no useful location research either. Locations in rural hub cities were doing great in sales while the urban centers continually floundered, but they didn't re-orient the supply chain to support this until it was too late. A much slower rollout from west to east would have likely gone over much more successfully.

[@oswaldjh]

Target convinced me not to shop there. Zellers had offered Target their customer list and Target didn't want the list. Target said they were looking to the upscale customer.

[@wmarkdyer]

As a Canadian who lives in Virginia and has lived with targets since 2002, I think that a failure of Target Canada really hurt Target USA. They lost their pharmacy and they have resorted to all sorts of ways to try to fool you into spending more money than you probably should. They also have cut their inventories and I really have come to the point where I kind of don't like Target anymore. All this has happened since the failure of Target Canada.

[@bluecollarden]

I had never been in a Target prior to their attempted openings in Canada. I had no expectations except for "similar to Walmart". So when it opened in my part of Saskatchewan, I didn't flock there but figured I'd make my way there eventually. Well I eventually did and... I was underwhelmed. Sure the red decor was cool and I like the little dog, but it just seemed like a smaller Walmart. And of course, empty shelves. Definitely not a good way for me to come back. I maybe did once or twice because I actually was in the area and needing something like toothpaste, but that was it. I still have yet to set foot into an American Target (haven't been to the USA since 2016) and I'm sure I will be impressed when I do, but yeah, it just didn't make sense to me. That's one thing Canadians and Americans need to understand, we are very similar in many ways, but we have our own cultures. What Canadians value and appreciate will be different than Americans. Target Canada seemed to view us as Northern Americans and didn't take our way of life into consideration.

[@bingofromblueyfan]

As someone who lives in America and has known about this failure for years now I know the big reason is Americans are different than Canadians and honestly it’s nice to know that Canada is our neighbor to the north and I honestly agree with you that target just saw Canada and was like huh they’re similar to America just colder and have national healthcare like target just didn’t know what they were doing and Canada and then they didn’t even keep the employees from Zellers

[@Kevin19700]

@@bluecollarden Absolutely spot on!

[@bluejaysfan965]

Our culture really isn't that different. Especially Saskatchewan and Alberta

[@j2simpso]

You missed one big mistake about Target's entry into Canada, they didn't consider the impact of competitors namely Walmart Canada. And to be honest, I cannot blame them, it is not like they have Walmart Canada in the United States. And treating Walmart Canada like Walmart in the US doesn't make much sense since they are totally different stores. For instance, in the US people look down on those shopping at Walmart whereas in Canada, people don't take the same attitude towards those shopping at Walmart Canada.

[@masaharumorimoto4761]

Zellers was such a wonderful store that when they were converted into Targets a lot of us got really upset, I wouldn't go in simply on principal.

[@kgrose102]

Honestly if they started with about half the amount of stores and actually did research on where to locate the targets they would have stood a better chance. Another option was to do a soft transition with partnering with Hudson's Bay and Revamp Zellars by adding in target brand items, then and increasing over a few years fully break off and switch over to Target branding. This would have kept the current staff, allowed people to become associated with Target, built goodwill with customers, and would have the backing of Hudson's Bay to help workout the logistic issues.

[@imaginekarma8582]

Target tore down the old Zellers building and built a new building when all they needed to do was replace the old leaky roof on the Zellers building. Showed how frivolous they were with their money and the inevitable downfall that resulted from it.

[@reggiebenes2916]

Target is a well run corporation, which is why it's so confusing how poorly they handled the Canada mess. It seems that they were totally confused that things would be different in Canada, and that it wouldn't be a matter of just slapping the Target logo on stores.

[@flopypingas9766]

As a canadian myself, i kinda want target to try again, mainly because i hate walmart

[@NWCell1138]

Not gonna lie, I kind of miss seeing you make railroad videos. Could you make one about the Baltimore & Ohio, the first railroad incorporated in America?

[@AnimalsVehiclesAndMore]

Same. I want to see a video dedicated to the Northern Pacific Railway, as well as the 4-8-4 steam locomotives that served with Northern Pacific, and a video dedicated to Northern Pacific 328.

[@sp786fanboy9]

Or the New York Susquehanna & Western (which is still around) or the Delaware & Hudson, or my personal favorite, Southern Pacific.

[@davidt303]

I pretty much just follow this channel for the corporate downfall videos. Not too big a train fan. Of course I recognize he still has to make videos for the OG subscribers too. And am still waiting for him to review the Sonic movies...

[@frostlord1246]

He's been making train videos in between these business ones. I'm sure he'll never stop making those entirely

[@Unknown_Ooh]

Don't know if you realize it or not but a lot of the other channels stopped making the type of RR videos this channel did too, they over did it and dried up video ideas.

[@jonathantrue2812]

Here in Ottawa, there was at least 2 stores that I'm aware of that never even opened, they were still in the middle of renovations.

[@andythekitsune]

@@jonathantrue2812 I know of at least one. Bayshore, which is now a Walmart.

[@talyla1815]

The Zellers near me became a Target, and then when that closed became a Walmart 😂

[@themovietheatre]

My parents tried to buy a microwave oven at the Carrefour Angrignon location, they had none.

[@brandomideas]

Our Target store in Dartmouth, NS , Canada, was only open for a few months. During which time they had issues getting any stock on shelves. More then half the store was bare shelves the entire time it was open. They didn't sell anything that great ( when they were open) (My opinion) . We never got to see the magic of target it was a disaster from opening to closing in just a few short months.

[@spiritflame]

like many of the commenters, i worked at Target canada end of 2014- until march 2015 when it closed. the prices were higher but there was issues when it opened as u covered but ya inventory was miss counted in the get go, and shutting a reopening the stores had not seen people come back

[@landonbussieres1125]

I remember when I was like 6, my mom would go there quite often at the local mall. In fact, it was probably one of the first ones open at the Pen Center.

[@mattblom3990]

So simple for us Canadians. We just wanted Target to be the same as American Target. It wasn't. The corporation played dumb, and worse, thought WE were dumb. And they were punished because we took our money elsewhere. I have a former Target 300 feet from me outside my apartment window. Went once, they sucked, never went back.

[@a_trauma_llama2991]

The zellers in The Bay is stupid. It's not the old Zellers it's just cheap white label goods with the zellers brand stamped on it. The Bay has been trying to move to 'high-end' shopping but then drops budget goods in the middle of the merch?

[@ryancraig2795]

Woolco was still a going concern and had good locations. Zellers had been going downhill for years and had a lot of not prime locations, not prime for a chain of stores that are supposed to be a bit upscale from Walmart.

[@mbilden]

Worked for Target for 8 years in the Twin Cities Metro area. As a pharmacist I was offered and then had rescinded a job at Target Canada. Management figured out that they didn't know how to run pharmacies in the US, so why try in Canada? Most "team members" felt that management would screw it up and were not disappointed. It did lead to our craptastic CEO being shown the door. So many stories about Target and their management screw ups. Lots of great hard working people who were lead by absolute idiots in the C-suite.

[@jeremyb456]

Personally I miss Zellers more then target Canada as Zellers had a restaurant Barber shop and actually a men's clothing selection. Target was a complete failure from day one when they opened it's to bad that the New Zellers inside the Bay stores to me that's not Zellers we knew and loved growing up in the 70,80,90s remember truly Canadian?

[@apl175]

I'm still holding on to my Club 'Z' card.

[@trainglen22]

I remember Target in LaSalle. They had not much stock.

[@zachsmith1676]

I remember going to a target once here in canada... I swear it was like they'd already gone out of business with only couple shelving units having anything on them, there were a couple employees but I could tell they were not happy over the state of the store... how could they be happy to sell things to people if they've got virtually nothing to sell, the Target I visited used to be a zellers location and I always find myself wishing target didn't buy out the zellers as imo it was one of the better performing ones as there were always crowds of people in there buying things (though it could be that it was fridays that I would go so perhaps other days in the week they weren't as busy)

[@lubsnewfie6122]

I can't speak for other locations but when Target went to set up shop in the Charlottetown Mall on PEI, all of the kiosk that were in front of and near the store were forced to move or had to close all together as Target didn't want them in front of their store. This didn't set well with the owners of the kiosks nor the people who shopped at those kiosk and Zellers. We saw Target as a big American bully. As you mentioned, when the Target did open, it was understocked and over priced. We felt bad for the people that worked at Target for losing their jobs but no one here on PEI was sad to see Target go. Since Target closed, other retailers, such as H&M, have set up shop and are doing really well.

[@solrshawn]

I made it halfway through this video, the shaky camera was making my eyes hurt.

[@villipend]

I have a Target Canada story as well, I went in to buy a video game, so far so good, I go to the checkout and girl goes "there's a secret sale you save 20%" well okay, great! What is the point of a secret sale? I was going to pay full price and it's not like I could tell anyone since who knows when the sale would end or even what else was on sale, it's all a secret! I'm I missing something? Is this a common practice in the US? My own thought is Target Canada was in disarray and had lost control of their pricing, such as when things were supposed to go on sale to match their flyers.

[@JorgeRTrevino]

Yes! I had heard of this on the Business Wars podcast but it's good to get a more in depth look.

[@bgb_ca]

Ah Target Canada. A case study on how NOT to expand here. I remember woolco going to Walmart as a kid. And it was basically one day it was woolco and the next Walmart. While the target stores did look nice, as stated the shelves were half empty and the stuff they did have in stock was overpriced. The only good thing that came out of it for me is that the Zellers by the house was not bought by them but the lease was sold to Walmart instead as target did not want it. That location is still there to this day and is extremely busy at times.

[@AnalyticalMenace]

TIL that, as an American, I apparently shop like a Canadian.

[@stephenholloway6893]

The lesson is don't buy too many stores until you know if the division is successful or not. If they bought say 1 distribution center and enough stores for that then maybe it could have been a success. Along with learn more about the market you're wanting to enter before risking it.

[@juliankremer1900]

I gotta say, that a play about a store chain failing & being performed in 1 of the chains closed down stores is definitely something that a Canadian would do. Gotta love the Canadian sense of humor. Although my family immigrated 2 the US from Toronto when I was 4/5 yrs old, the Zellers name does seem 2 ring a bell. Obviously not as much as Tim Horton's or Canadian Tire, but still is somewhat familiar.

[@Matthew6248]

Target Canada slimed Target Canada, made a reference to a certain Nickelodeon show from the 1980s called You Can't Do That On Television which came from Canada. Speaking of Nickelodeon, do Nickelodeon 1979-84 (when Warner/Amex owned it), other suggestions: Toplain (Japanese shot em up arcade company), Commodore, and Gottlieb

[@richardwoolnough4081]

Your research, as always, brilliant. Just a suggestion, as you are that good with regards to the UK rail histories, but keeping with retail, you may want to look at the Lloyds Pharmacy fiasco... once one of the leading Pharmacy retailers, now apparently on line only... if they still even exist....

[@solonsaturngaming3727]

It’s like here in Edmonton there was a local burger joint called Burger King here and for Years they kept BK out of my city till the owner retired and sold the name and branding of the Burger King restaurant here in my city. Look it up my mom, uncles and my friends family remembers the place very well my aunt used to work at the Burger King.

[@anoeticangel]

@solonsaturngaming3727 it was The Burger King not Burger King. I know. Semantics lol

[@Masatisan]

My mom and I had a running joke that me accidentally stealing a pair of fox socks on ultra clearence for 1.25$ is the reason they closed via butterfly effect lol

[@princessmarlena1359]

A Target store two towns from where I grew up had an employee unjustly fired and arrested, he was taken to the station but not booked, he was even released. The poor kid was a neurodivergent and unalived himself later that day. Happened 10 years ago.

[@Richard_K1630]

Was that the store in Pasadena?

[@princessmarlena1359]

@@Richard_K1630 The very same.

[@nicoleh3703]

There was a very surprising remodel of one of the former Target locations. It was turned into a training centre for a nuclear power plant!

[@randomcanad14n3h]

The target in my city became a spirit halloween for years, huge store open only a few weeks each year💀

[@LMGuelph]

I'm from Canada, and I just check online and go to one place for shopping things in my city are too spread out.

[@anonymousperson8487]

19:49 Mandeep? Now that just sounds wrong

[@turboprint3d]

We had a target for just over a year , i never set foot in the place .

[@vinceely2906]

You missed the target then?

[@DanaTheInsane]

I live in the US in fact I live in Minnesota, the home of Target. I love Target that’s great here I wonder why?

[@garethfarman9540]

Supermarkets don't translate. Walmart failed in the UK and Germany Tesco failed in the USA and Germany But Lidle and or Aldi survived and thrived in the UK and USA. Walmart relied on a USA model of big brands sold as cheap as possible. Tesco relied on the UK model of no brands. Tesco only brands. Aldi relied on the German model of cheap store only brands. Germany wumped us both.

[@madcyantist8243]

Target Canada was just a more expensive Zellers. It literally got rid of the best parts of Zellers and charged more for everything else. Ironically, at the time, our walmarts weren't that bad. These days I'd rather not step foot in half of them. Maybe it's time for Target to come back... Maybe not.

[@CDog5150]

Love This Channel.

[@vincewhite5087]

Most Americans I have met are always far more obsessed with shopping just for sake of shopping.

[@anthonyruby2668]

I worked at Target at the time. I saw (target logo) ❤ 🍁 ALL the time everywhere im the store... I was in FL!!!

[@csxtrainfan319]

Some corporations just don’t think before going into another country

[@vincewhite5087]

Stores were empty from the start, and supper expensive.

[@vincewhite5087]

Had many expats Americans & they live Only to shop. They constantly seek us to shop, and we would say, not needed. The excuses of high costs is false. Because All others here have that. Lowes failed too. There was no noticeable advantage to higher Target prices & poor selection.

[@Tallacus]

I am a former employee and they were one of the worse companies you can work for

[@vincewhite5087]

Basically, the end of big box malls is here.

[@marieltr]

to me where I live it was simple, they bought zellers, zellers was in decline, here most of the zellers employees got rehired. Result? It felt like a less nice version of walmart that's more expensive and feel like a store in decline. That's juste my local experience. To people around me it was still zellers and still messy lol

[@jonathancunningham8739]

The only good thing that came out of Target Canada for me was my Star wars Black series Jabba and Telltale the Wolf Among Us (I got the game during their closing sales).

[@qbasicer]

I always liked to shop at Target since it was empty inside

[@BalooUriza]

Walmart Canada didn't have a good go at it for the like, first 3 or 4 tries they had at it, they were harder than the pacific northwestern US for Walmart to crack. And they were starting from zero, they didn't just catch Zeller's on the rebound when The Bay dumped 'em to get the party rolling.

[@trevonpernell0814]

12:58 That explains a whole lot.

[@PShawtx]

Target dosn't really even try to compete with Walmart.

[@sos-pl8pf]

As a current target employee, none of this is surprising.

[@rickarmstrong4704]

I was a ZELLERS shopper all target did was drive Me to a place I had never been before and that was Wallymart never set foot in a target, You are very Right On here I shop at many stores not loyal to any one place, Well maybe one sort of Princess Auto it is a store for those that need stuff to make or repair that You go to it is like a Harbour Freight a Canadian version there is no other place like Princess Auto in canada! I was not big on target and said at the time it wont be here long it certainly was a disaster and target I dont think has realy come out of and is in trouble still but so is much of retail nope dont do scamazon only if it is not to be had anywhere else! Thanks

[@blackpanda7298]

They shouldn’t have fired all the zellers employees. They should’ve kept them to help them integrate into the Canadian market

[@generalprincecodyhedgewolf2944]

If I was a Border Agent Dressed as a Soldier For American side I’d be like: “HALT YOU CANNOT PA- Oh wait I’ve already seen and Stamped your Passport Visa Carry on through.”

[@Miniweet9167]

Yeah also … All the Canadian chains + all the Quebec chains = 2 countries to compete against. 18:07

[@bcbradley]

I just saw a flavored chapstick at the grocery store for $9.99. And people were buying them 🙈 I think Target would do well in Canada today eh

[@vincewhite5087]

Walmart came into Canada by buying Woolco.

[@annoythedonkey]

Can you do a video on Advance Autoparts I’m likely going to loose my job as a result of their 700+ stores on the west coast that’s closing costing a lot of money I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say how much it’s costing

[@Imintune...]

Biggest retail failure ever in Canadian history

[@vincewhite5087]

I was so excited when they came, but it was terrible. Nothing like in USA

[@tedma8757]

Would you consider doing a similar video about Sam's Club?

[@harrisonallen651]

America and Australia are still going strong

[@daviscampbell9020]

Target sucked.

[@C4arl3sYT]

As a Canadian, I remember going to the movie theatre and seeing two or four giant red balls in front of an abandoned building my mom told me it used to be a target store and i think i said to her was "how was there a target store in Canada?" I was young back then so I just always assumed that target was only an American company I never knew that American companies can operate in other parts of the world especially retail stores and you wanna know the funny part about it I think that target building was turned into a Toys “R” Us store hilarious now thinking about it because toys “R” Us shut down years later after target Canada

[@jonathantrue2812]

Toys r us still exists in Canada btw

[@ritalinkidsonritalin]

I guess I'm one of the channel newbies who's more into the corporate post mortems as opposed to the underwater train videos... No shade. Just here for the autopsies.

[@theretromillennial]

Same here.

[@clatonblade2211]

target is ment to be nice and classy? target was a dump compared to the zellars, it even had a nice restaurant they riped out when the put in the target. spoiler the target parking lot sat empty after the grand opening for about 6? months then they closed