Employees of Zellers in the Thorncliffe Park Shopping Mall are hanging on for any bit of information which will tell them of their fate and that of their store. Zellers parent Hudson Bay, has sold rights to the leases of as many as 220 Zellers stores to the U.S. retailer Target. It will spend more than $1-billion to convert 100 to 150 of them to its own banner within the next two to three years. In the meantime, employees wait and wonder. They do know that as part of the deal, the store will continue to operate through 2011. A Bay spokesperson said: “During this time, Target will be determining which locations will open as a Target store, which locations may be sold to another retailer and which will remain as Zellers. We will continue to operate a portfolio of Zellers stores in some communities in Canada. No decisions have been made on specific locations at this time.” In other words, the Zellers name may live on in cut down form. The Thorncliffe store is a sad reflection of its former self. The coming months are not likely to see any upgrades.
