is
Canada 's second largest chain of discount department stores, with 291 locations in communities across the country. Zellers is headquartered in the
Toronto Suburb of
Brampton, Ontario , and is a subsidiary of the
Hudson's Bay Company ("HBC").
The company was founded in 1931 by
Walter P. Zeller as "stores for thrifty Canadians". The chain began with twelve stores. In 1978, Zellers was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company, at which time it was headquartered in
Montreal, Quebec . In 1991, Zellers acquired the 51 stores of the
Towers Department Stores /Bonimart chain, and converted them to Zellers stores. In 1998, Hudson's Bay Company acquired
Kmart 's Canadian division, and merged it with the Zeller's division to create a larger combined chain under the Zellers name. Many Kmart locations were closed, and selected sites became full Zellers outlets. Zellers also took over Kmart's Canadian head office in Brampton at this time.
On
February 28 ,
2006 , Zellers was taken private when South Carolina businessman Jerry Zucker finalized a takeover bid on the Hudson's Bay Company.
Today, Zellers has over 35,000 employees and it is a division of Hudson's Bay Company. The average store size is 94,000 square feet (8,700 m²). stores are designed for smaller markets with populations under 25,000, and the stores average 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²). Since 1998, over 50% of all stores have been renovated to the latest prototype. 228 Zellers stores have pharmacies, and 247 have a restaurant (either '''Zellers Family Restaurant''', '''Zellers Family Diner''', or the newest concept, '''Neighbourhood Market Cafe'''). In an effort to improve the image of the company, customer service is organized into two teams. Service associates, wearing red shirts, help cutomers find what they need and provide additional assistance, while merchandisers, wearing grey shirts, stock the store.
The everyday low pricing model that was made well-known by
Wal-Mart is used on 95% of merchandise at Zellers. Over the past three years, Zellers has expanded its product assortment in the majority of stores to include
Big Ticket Items , patio furniture, electronics and ready-to-assemble furniture.
In the past few years, Zellers has made a notable push to drive sales through use of exclusive, private label merchandise. In a strategy similar to
Target 's, Zellers sells Mossimo,
Cherokee , Sportek, Stuff by Hilary Duff,
Gloria Vanderbilt ,
Airwalk , Waverly Decor,
Wabasso , and many other labels that can only be found in their stores in Canada. Private brands now represent over 30% of Zellers sales.
is Zellers' expanded section of grocery items that goes beyond just selling dry snacks and other food. Frozen and dairy aisles, including ice cream, and frozen pizza, have been added to create an easy one-stop shopping experience. This may seem unusual to many customers, and was practically unheard of in a mass merchandiser in Canada until recently. In these stores, the food assortment has been expanded by 50%. Due to the success of this format, Zellers had plans to roll out Neighbourhood Market to 30 stores by the end of 2004. Besides the stores with this new concept, the company expects to have at least another 40 stores with at least some dairy and refrigerated products, along with boxed and canned goods. Many analysts speculate that this action is in response to Wal-Mart's success in Canada. Already, about 85 Wal-Mart stores have expanded food offerings of their own, known as '''The Grocery Pantry'''. Whenever a new store is built, or an old one renovated, Zellers will make Neighbourhood Market part of it. In spite of all of this, Zellers says it doesn't expect to take things to the point where it has all of the same products as a full grocery. In 2004, 24 stores were renovated to this latest prototype, and there were plans to renovate another 27 stores in 2005.
At the end of fiscal year 2003, Zellers had sales of $4.625 billion and average sales of $198/ft&
2 ($2,131/m&
2).
In 2004, there were media reports that the American
Target Corporation was investigating the purchase of some or all of the Hudson's Bay Company, with some columnists suggesting that Zellers might face purchase the same way
Woolco was bought out by
Wal-Mart in the early 1990s.
In early April 2005, three Zellers stores unveiled a new, state-of-the-art shopping cart system produced by Pflow, known as the
"Cartveyor" . It is designed to move carts between floors of multi-level stores and is placed in between the "up" and "down" sides of the escalator.
HBC announced in late May 2005 that as part of their sales growth plan, "The Big Ticket strategy" will be expanded to 97 Zellers stores across the country, after being piloted at select locations in
Ontario ,
Quebec and
Manitoba . Nine stores will offer a small assortment of appliances, 83 will offer appliances and mattress sets, and five will offer a full assortment of appliances, mattress sets and furniture. HBC is also expanding brands previously only sold at the Bay to Zellers, such as
Jockey and London Fog.
Square One Shopping Centre , located in
Mississauga, Ontario is home to Canada's largest Zellers store at 163,000 square feet.
- "Where everything starts with Z" (1970s and 1980s)
- "Where the lowest price is the Law" (1980s and 1990s)
- "Where the Lowest Price is the Law, and More"
- "Better and Better" (2001-2003)
- "Truly Canadian" (?? - present)
- "Great things for Canada" (2005 - present. Hbc corporate slogan often used in conjunction with Olympic merchandise/campaign at all banners)
- White Sale
- 7 Days of Spectacular Savings
- Celebration Event
- Dollar Daze
- Incredible Mega Sale Event!
- Our Biggest Celebration Event
- Truckload Sale
- Crazy Christmas Countdown
- Lowest Price of the Season
- Everyday Low Price
- Manager's Special
- Power Buy
- Price Cut
