Canadian Tire is setting up shop in the empty two-storey former Target store at Hillside shopping centre.
It is also opening a store in the former Target store in Courtenay.
Canadian Tire (TSX:CTC, TSX:CTC.A) is paying $17.7 million to take over a dozen leases that had been held by Target Canada. The agreement must be confirmed by the court, which is supervising the closure of Target in Canada.
Two other former Target locations in B.C. will be filled by Canadian Tire, in Vernon and in Cranbrook.
“We've been tracking certain Target properties for some time and when the opportunity came up, we moved quickly and secured virtually all of them. We chose 12 properties that fit strategically and financially into our store network," Michael Medline, president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corporation, said in a statement today.
This acquisition provides Canadian Tire with a unique opportunity to ramp up sales and market share, the statement said.
Canadian Tire is predicting it will improve profitability through a more cost-effective retail store network.
Some existing stores will be replaced for better locations, the company said. Those stores were not announced.
Canadian Tire is adding about 400,000 square feet of retail space through this plan.
It will also allow the company to display more merchandise in larger stores, Medline said.
Target closed its Hillside and Tillicum shopping centre stores this year as part of its cross-Canada shutdown of all 133 stores.
Target filed for protection from creditors in January, ending a two-year blitz of Canada’s retail marketplace when it took over Zeller’s locations. But Target failed to win favour in Canada and losses mounted.
Other new Canadian Tire locations in former Targets will be in Halifax, N.S., Moncton, N.B., two in Montreal and one in Rimouski, Que., Aurora and Sudbury in Ontario, and Winnipeg.
