Private businesses are concerned for mall traffic when Zellers closes next year.
“I think it’s awful because I mean, we’re going to lose a lot of people,” said Julie Seip, owner of Inessense at the Town 'n' Country Mall. “Basically because they have the clothing. They have the shoes … People are automatically going to go to Wal-Mart and that’s going to draw a lot of people out of the mall.”
Zellers’ associates have received layoff notices for the end of March 2013 when the Zellers will close, said Tiffany Bourré, external communications manager at Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC).
“We are considering options for certain locations, which could potentially include rebranding, but that’s to be determined at a later date,” said Bourré. “We haven’t even determined which, if any, locations we would potentially rebrand.”
She said the location of Moose Jaw’s Zellers will close, but has the possibility of re-opening as a Bay store, Home Outfitters or another HBC option. HBC sold 189 leaseholds of the Zellers brand to Target Corp. in 2011.
Seip said the announcement of Zellers' closure was not a surprise.
For more information, see an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
