Target won’t change how Quebecers shop

Target, the mammoth retailer from the States, opens its doors in la Belle Province today. But will Quebecers care?

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You’ll be seeing more of this signage soon. Photo via Flickr

Well, today’s the day Target, the mammoth retailer from down south, opens in Quebec.

As of right now, seven locations across the province, including stores in Ville St-Laurent, Brossard and Laval, are open for your discount shopping needs, with more on the way. Of course, that is if you still care about Target’s arrival.

Whatever interest that seemed to exist in the purveyor of cheap wares in the wake of the demise of Zellers has fallen by the wayside in other parts of Canada, where Target has been adding locations to diminishing fanfare. That apathy has made its way here.

Could it be because the Canadian Targets don’t offer the same selection and low prices as their American counterparts? Or that most Canadians don’t want to buy their groceries from a bloated department store? Or perhaps it’s the bad impression they gave when they only hired a small percentage of ex-Zellers workers who had lost their jobs. Or that they’re as staunchly anti-union as Walmart.

Or maybe it’s because Canadians were so charmed by the exotic allure of a previously unattainable big box chain that when they finally had the chance to see what the fuss was about, they realized that Target is basically Walmart with a better PR machine?

Target won’t have much to offer that we can’t already get, and the thought of one-stop-shopping in order to save a couple of bucks sounds like a dreadfully boring way to live.

If you need to buy a new T-shirt or a video game, Target will probably be as convenient a place as any, but if the mega-retailer thinks it’ll be able to change the way Quebecers shop, they’re way off the mark. ■

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