After being gone from the Canadian shopper’s psyche for so many years, the Zellers brand has built up a fair bit of “nostalgia,” says Joe Aversa, associate professor of retail management at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Retail analyst and author Bruce Winder agrees that Zellers will be “topical” for the coming days, and that might generate a sales boost for HBC in the short run, but in the long-term, he’s less sure Canadians are going to become repeat shoppers at the resurrected retailer. “The only thing that could help them is if for some reason it got hot, like it became trendy to have a Zellers sweatshirt. Then they might get lucky like that. But realistically, you know, I don’t think it’s going to translate to sales,” he says.Zellers returns as inflation pushes consumers to discount retail
While the “lowest price is the law” slogan was more apt for an earlier iteration of Zellers, Winder says that today, the brand is targeting more of a mid-price point, somewhere above Dollarama’s offerings. While Winder says the Nordstrom exit sent a “shockwave” through the retail landscape, he says the shop’s folding up in Canada had more to do with Nordstrom itself than the market.
In the 1960s and 1970s, department stores were the “quintessential element that was going to drive traffic” to a shopping mall, he says.
NO! They fired all their employees and destroyed their lives! boycottZellers They destroyed my husband's 10 year career so they could sell to Target. (We sued & we won!) They are dirty and shame on you for promoting them!