Lowest price is the draw: Winnipeggers flock to new Zellers store By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Tuesday, Apr. 4, 2023

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Derek Sherby rode a wave of nostalgia to Zellers Tuesday.

After a 30-minute cross-city drive, he went up the escalator to the second floor of the Hudson’s Bay in St. Vital Centre and was greeted by hanging signs, red sweaters and employees announcing the arrival of Zellers. Off to the side, a DJ blared old hits like Rod Stewart’s Forever Young.

“Glad they’re back. It’s been a long time,” Sherby said about shopping at the discount retailer that used to advertise “the lowest price is the law.”

Nearly a decade, in fact, since most of the chain’s locations closed. Zellers reopened in Winnipeg Tuesday, along with 11 other locations across the country.

Ontario and Alberta were the first to see Zellers return this year when 12 permanent shops opened March 23.

“I need to get this,” said Alycia Hargreaves, draping a $25 red sweater with a white Zellers logo over her arm. “I just love Zellers.”

Hargreaves, 27, had been looking at boots in St. Vital Centre when she spotted a sign that advertised the new store. She booted it to Zellers.

She smiled as she recounted memories of eating in a Zellers restaurant with her mother years ago.

“A little piece of my childhood is back,” she said. “Hopefully, they’ll be here to stay.”

Since Zellers closed, there’s been a pandemic, dramatic inflation and interest rate hikes.

“Everything’s so expensive (elsewhere),” Sherby, 50, said. “A pair of jeans is like $100… this is more affordable.”

He and his wife drove from their home in north Winnipeg, fuelled by memories of cheap Champion label clothes and Zeddy dolls.

Shayla Vokey wound through the aisles of men’s clothing, children’s attire, and housewares.

“It just reminds me of being with my grandparents,” Vokey, 42, said. “They definitely made it look how it used to look.”

“A little piece of my childhood is back… Hopefully, they’ll be here to stay.”–Alycia Hargreaves

The 8,000-square-foot space is marked by red and white signage — “the best value is always today,” one sign reads — but once customers pass the men’s clothes in Zellers, they’re back in the Bay territory.

“It’s a bit small, but maybe over time, it will grow,” said Jeannette Viallet-Girardin, a shopper who made the trip from La Salle Tuesday.

She and other shoppers expressed a desire for more Zellers.

The Hudson’s Bay Co. is keeping a lid on new locations, for now.

“We announced 25 locations within Hudson’s Bay stores across Canada to start,” Tiffany Bourré, a Hudson’s Bay Co. spokeswoman, wrote in an email. “No other locations to share at this time.”

In Winnipeg, CF Polo Park also has a Bay store.

The discount chain’s revival comes at an opportune time, noted Fletcher Baragar, a University of Manitoba economics professor.

“All sorts of households are maybe paying increasing attention to their budget and their spending patterns,” Baragar said. “Zellers… responds to that segment of the market.”

In February, Manitoba’s inflation rate increased 6.4 per cent from the same month a year earlier. In February 2022, Manitoba’s inflation rate had jumped 6.1 per cent from the same month in 2021.

Meantime, the Bank of Canada’s current key interest rate, 4.5 per cent, is four per cent higher than it was in March 2022.

Weekly earnings for the average Manitoban increased only five per cent year over year in January, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent data.

People with mortgages or other loans up for renewal will pay far higher rates, putting an extra squeeze on their finances, Baragar said.

“(People) are… forecasting continued inflation, which means prices going up,” he added. “I think (consumers are) concerned about how far their budget is going to go.”

Zellers is re-entering the market as some of its competitors continue to struggle with pandemic-era debt, and others have closed, Baragar said.

“I certainly think (Zellers will) help bring people to this end of the city,” said Kyle Waterman, general manager of St. Vital Centre. “It’s a great offering and great pricing… That’s a benefit to our centre.”

“I certainly think (Zellers will) help bring people to this end of the city… It’s a great offering and great pricing… That’s a benefit to our centre.”–Kyle Waterman, St. Vital Centre

Already, the mall’s traffic count is back to 2019 levels, Waterman said. Around 20 stores opened in St. Vital Centre last year, he said.

While Zellers was never located in the mall, it had a location nearby. Target took over more than 200 locations in 2011 at the cost of $1.83 billion. The remaining Zellers shops closed in the following years. Target later folded its operations in Canada due to poor sales and an inability to stock its shelves.

On Tuesday, Debbie Stratychuk took her granddaughter Breanne Proulx to Zellers. Stratychuk reminisced about the cheap bacon and egg breakfasts she enjoyed at Zellers’ restaurant in decades past.

“So far, the (prices are) really good,” she said.

Proulx, 25, passed by $4 plates and $10 fake potted plants. She’s looking to furnish an apartment that she plans to move in to soon.

Brittany Silva had her three children in tow for their first visit to Zellers.

“It reminds me of my childhood,” she said. “It’s a fun experience to be able to be the mom and to bring my kids.”

The new store-within-a-store includes Zellers’ in-house brand, Anko, among other products. The Zellers website launched last month.

Opening a brick-and-mortar shop in this economic environment is risky, said Philippe Cyrenne, a University of Winnipeg economics professor.

“I am unsure whether Zellers would be a big enough draw to get people to switch from other stores or to move back from online shopping,” he wrote in an email.

However, Zellers has the advantage of its iconic brand name, he added.

Sites in Quebec, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan also opened Tuesday. Another is set to open in Quebec later this month.

The 352-year-old institution recently began Zellers Diners on Wheels — trucks that take meals like the big “Z” burger across Canada. A Winnipeg date for the food truck hasn’t yet been announced.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com