Zellers set to relaunch with two new stores in Ontario
· Toronto Sun
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Never say die.
There is currently one Zellers store that has been left standing in Canada — but not for long.
Another Zellers location is set to open in Toronto later this month along with another Ontario location in July, nearly 100 years after the franchise was founded, and just over year after Hudson’s Bay Co. filed for creditor protection.
The discount retailer is opening a 25,000-sq.-ft. standalone store on Orfus Rd., near Yorkdale Mall, on June 18, while the other is set to relaunch at Windsor’s Tecumseh Mall in July.
“Following the incredible response we saw in Edmonton, we’re excited to bring Zellers back to Ontario in a meaningful way,” Joey Benitah, chief operating officer of Zellers, said in a press release.
“Customer feedback has been instrumental in shaping our evolution — from what categories resonate most to how we deliver value and discovery in-store,” he noted. “Sales have been strong, engagement has exceeded expectations, and we’re just getting started.”
Zellers’ expansion plans in Ontario will include food and toys, something new for the retailer as it will once again directly compete with Walmart and perhaps capitalize on Toys “R” Us Canada stores closing, as well as the usual apparel, home goods, luggage and seasonal items.
The latest revival of the retailer comes after HBC sold its Zellers trademarks to Les Ailes de la Mode, a discount department store from Quebec owned by the Benitah family.
Zellers’ ups and downs
It’s been a roller-coaster ride for Zellers, which was a mainstay in malls across the country until 2011 when HBC sold the majority of the retailer’s leases to Target, as part of the American giant’s Canadian expansion plan.
With the exception of liquidation outlets, Zellers closed the majority of its stores in 2013, while Target entered the picture.
We all know how that turned out.
By 2015, Target officially closed all of its locations and five years later, the last of the Zellers outlets shuttered.
But there’s something to be said about nostalgia and sentimentality, and a decade after HBC shuttered most of its locations, Zellers was reborn — in the form of an e-commerce website and expanding its brick-and-mortar legacy within select Hudson’s Bay stores across the country.
With the relaunch came a “ refreshed identity ” for the store that once boasted that it was “where the lowest price is the law.”
It expanded further across Canada but its resurgence didn’t last long, and HBC closed all its stores — both The Bay and Zellers — in 2025.
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Will Zellers’ latest renaissance, now under Les Ailes de la Mode, stick?
Katarina Taylor, general manager of Windsor Properties, which owns Tecumseh Mall, appears to think so, noting in the press release the excitement and nostalgia the Zellers brand will bring back to shoppers who have “always remembered the brand fondly.”
She said: “Being among one of the first locations in Ontario to welcome Zellers back is a fantastic opportunity for growth as we continue to evolve and diversify the retail mix.”
Benitah added: “This is more than expansion — it’s validation that Canadians are ready for Zellers again. Ontario is a major step forward, but this is only the beginning.”