American retail giant Target isn’t the only department store building itself from the remains of Canadian discount chain Zellers.
On Monday, Walmart Canada announced the opening of 47 hiring centres across the country.
The company has already hired 900 people this year and plans to hire 3,100 more, to reach 4,000 new hires and 94,000 workers total by the end of January 2013.
In 2011, after Target bought 189 Zellers stores across Canada, it sold 39 of those sites to Walmart Canada. Most of those 39 sites will be included in the 73 building, expansion, remodelling, and relocation projects that Walmart Canada plans to complete by Jan. 31, 2013.
The hiring spree extends to Walmart pharmacies. Eric Muir, Walmart Canada’s senior vice president of Health and Wellness, says the company has hired many former Zellers pharmacy associates and is still looking to fill more positions.
The coming of Target
Target Corp., despite ceding 39 Zellers stores to Walmart and several more to other retailers, still holds the vast majority of the 189 Zellers sites it acquired in 2011.
Last week, Target posted a list of confirmed stores that contains 111 locations across nine provinces. The U.S.-based retail chain plans to announce more locations over the coming months.
Target plans to open its first Canadian stores in March or early April 2013. While Walmart focuses on offering the lowest prices, Target, which describes itself as “an upscale discount retailer,” offers discounts on goods of a comparatively higher quality.
It remains to be seen how much direct competition will occur between the two companies.
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