Canadian discount department store Zellers hopes to return with a comeback next year into the retail market.
Things will start off with a debut of a new e-commerce website and then a brick-and-mortar store that will be inside select Hudson’s Bay department stores across the country by early 2023 says the Hudson’s Bay Company (Zellers department store was founded in 1931 and acquired by HBC in 1978).
The company said the relaunched Zellers will offer “a digital-first shopping journey that taps into the nostalgia of the brand.”
The return of Zellers comes as soaring inflation drives consumers to discount retailers in search of lower prices and fierce competition from existing stores like Walmart, Dollarama and Giant Tiger.
It operated as the discount division of its flagship Hudson’s Bay department stores, with the slogan “Where the lowest price is the law.”
The store hit its peak of about 350 locations in the late 1990s before losing ground to big box competitors such as Walmart.
In 2011, HBC announced plans to sell the majority of its remaining Zellers leases to Target Corp., closing most stores by 2013.
The retailer kept a handful of Zellers locations open as liquidation outlets until 2020.
The company recently launched pop-up Zellers shops inside Hudson’s Bay department stores in Burlington, Ont., and in Anjou, Que.
