Craig and Lee talk about Zeller’s brand reboot in 2023, including the new shop-in-stores currently under construction within Hudson’s Bay stores as well as the introduction of food trucks with some favourites from the past. Will it be a success, or will Canadians be disappointed with what’s to come?
The Weekly podcast by Retail Insider Canada is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Also check out our The Interview Series podcast where Craig interviews guests from across the Canadian retail landscape as part of the The Retail Insider Podcast Network.
Retail Insider content discussed this episode:
- Zellers To Open Initial 25 Stores In Canada With Potential Return Of Mascot ‘Zeddy’
- Zellers Announces 25 Shop-In-Shop Hudson’s Bay Locations Including Details On Store Sizes
- Zellers Will Have Uphill Battle To Be Successful And Drive Profits For HBC: Expert [Interview]
- Zellers To Launch Food Trucks In Effort To Drive Traffic To Bay Stores
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Background Music Credit: Hard Boiled Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Great podcast, one thing you guys didn’t touch on is there is there are a lot of Canadians that hate Walmart and hate that it is our only discount department store and long for a good Canadian alternative. I’m merely basing that off the countless comments on Instagram posts and news article comment sections about the hate for Walmart and the want for a Canadian alternative. Giant Tiger doesn’t quite fill that void, they are too much like a BiWay or Bargain Harolds. If they focused on larger format stores closer to the old Zellers/Target size and better selection of products they would be that alternative that we want and need but they seem happy sticking to their current lane and small format.
I think that’s why there is such excitement for Zellers we could finally have that alternative and a reason to ditch Walmart again. What I don’t understand though is if HBC is really struggling right now (and all signs seem to point that way) why don’t they just dedicate an entire floor to become a Zellers? At least at their Hudson Bay locations that are really struggling. I want Zellers to succeed but I’m not sure what they can do with 10,000sf or less I just don’t see that being anything more than temporary buzz and then quickly fading away into a failure.
I’m glad to see that HBC isn’t afraid of evolving the Zellers concept, as they should. It could be successful if strikes a careful balance between appealing to former Zellers customers who loved the brand, while also appealing to younger consumers who are unfamiliar with it. It looks as though HBC has secured exclusive rights in Canada to distribute the Australian brand ANKO, which would be a very good first step in a plan to pivot Zellers toward affordable, design-driven products. This relaunch could be the success that HBC desperately needs, or a complete disaster, but either way I’m looking forward to checking it out when the time comes.