Consumers hunt for financial savings and nostalgia at Zellers pop-up retailer

Article content material

Whereas most Canadians have recollections of Zellers from the Nineteen Nineties, that’s not the case for Joanne Côté.

Zellers items are a part of the St-Hubert resident’s day by day life, as she nonetheless has and makes use of many objects she purchased from the longtime low cost retailer earlier than the shops closed greater than a decade in the past.

Article content material

Began in Ontario by Walter Zeller in 1931, the low cost division retailer was bought by the Hudson’s Bay Firm in 1978 and grew to 350 shops, peaking in in 1999.

Article content material

In hopes of cashing in on shopper nostalgia, HBC has revived the model, opening pop-up shops across the nation over the previous couple of weeks, with a view to opening everlasting everlasting shops later this yr. On Friday, three pop-up outlets within the Montreal space had been formally opened to the general public inside Hudson’s Bay shops: in Angrignon and Rockland malls on the island of Montreal, and within the Champlain Mall in Brossard. They had been amongst 21 pop-ups that opened across the nation.

One retailer opened at les Galéries d’Anjou again in April. The corporate has additionally been promoting Zellers-brand merchandise on-line at zellers.ca.

Looking the merchandise on Friday, Côté defined that her affinity to the model is partially recollections of a bygone period, however she additionally appreciated the shop’s good worth.

“I used to purchase all the things for the home at Zellers, and it’s been years and years, and it’s nonetheless excellent,” Côté mentioned. “That they had lovely issues and it wasn’t actually costly. I actually loved buying at Zellers and I missed it rather a lot.”

She mentioned the outside furnishings in her yard is from Zellers and continues to be in good condition, as is the clothes and childrenswear that she acquired on the retailer.

Article content material

“I purchased sneakers, and clothes for my youngsters. And now my grandchildren and great-grandchildren have them,” she mentioned.

Sarah Naseem, a resident of Brossard, mentioned she has fond recollections of the model.

“I bear in mind going with my mother and father to select garments,” Naseem mentioned. “I’m a mother of triplets, so I’m all the time trying to save cash.”

Naseem heard in regards to the retailer reopening from commercials on the radio, however she was pleasantly stunned to see the HBC pop-up on Wednesday.

She additionally mentioned she was impressed with the standard of the objects in retailer.

Recognized for the tagline “the place the bottom worth is the legislation,” the final 220 Zellers shops had been bought to Goal Canada in 2011. The U.S. retailer opened many shops in former Zellers places earlier than it exited the Canadian market two years later.

Zellers wasn’t all the time beloved by Canadian customers. In 2012, it was named by CBC’s Markeplace as one of many shops with the worst customer support within the nation.

Zellers now has greater than 30 places in HBC shops across the nation. The pop-ups function a take a look at to find out whether or not the corporate ought to open everlasting shops in the identical location.

[email protected]

twitter.com/jasonmagder

Article content material