Zellers

Zellers is a former Canadian discount store chain, currently operating two store locations in Alberta and Ontario, Canada. Originally founded by Walter P. Zeller in 1928 and closed two years later, it was relaunched in 1931. It was later acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978, and after a series of acquisitions and expansions, it peaked with 350 locations in 1999. However, fierce competition and an inability to adapt during the early stages of the retail apocalypse resulted in Zellers losing significant ground in the 2000s. In January 2011, HBC announced that it would sell the lease agreements for up to 220 Zellers stores to the US chain Target. While HBC initially retained 64 Zellers locations, it announced in July 2012 that all of them would be closed by March 31, 2013. When the chain ceased, HBC converted three former stores into Zellers-branded liquidation outlets for Hudson's Bay stores, however they all had closed by January 2020. In 2023, the Zellers brand was formally reintroduced as a store-within-a-store concept inside Hudson's Bay department stores; however, in 2025 HBC filed for bankruptcy and closed all Hudson's Bay stores. On August 28, 2025, for the third time in its history, it was announced that Zellers would be relaunched again, this time under new ownership of Les Ailes de la Mode, with the first location opening in a former Hudson's Bay store at Londonderry Mall in Edmonton. After being delayed twice, it ultimately opened on October 30, 2025. A second store opened in June 2026 in Toronto.