Dust off your Club Z card: Zellers announces Ontario expansion
· Toronto Sun
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Dust off those Club Z cards. Zellers is on its way back in earnest.
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The famous Canadian discount retailer is returning to Ontario with a 25,000-sq.-ft. store in Cambridge on Thursday, CP24 reports .
Along with the store at the Cambridge Centre, there are also plans to open two more locations in the Greater Toronto Area: One at Shoppers World in Brampton (499 Main St. S.) and another at Malvern Town Centre in Scarborough (31 Tapscott Rd.). A location is also planned for Tecumseh Mall in Windsor , though it remains unclear when any of the new stores will open.
Zellers is already back in the GTA, with a location at 80 Orfus Rd. in North York, near Yorkdale Mall. It was the brand’s first location since 2020, when the last Zellers in the GTA closed its doors. The expansion into Ontario follows a successful relaunch of the brand at Edmonton’s Londonderry Mall.
Canadian icon
For decades, Canadians turned to the store “ where the lowest price is the law .” Shoppers in Canadian suburbs could depend on finding brand names at prices that worked for budget-conscious families, while making a pit stop at the in-store diner for a burger and fries or chicken fingers.
The now-defunct Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) owned the retail brand, closing most of its locations in 2013 and briefly bringing it back as a smaller in-store retail concept within its Bay locations in 2023.
The idea was short-lived. HBC filed for creditor protection last year, but Quebec-based retailer Les Ailes de la Mode Inc., owned by the Benitah family , acquired the Zellers name, trademarks, logo and Club Z program before the centuries-old company filed for bankruptcy and sold off its historic assets.
Benitah family reviving beloved name
Now, the family has big plans to bring the retailer back for Canadians.
Zellers CEO Joey Benitah said in a news release that they’ve “been incredibly encouraged by the response” to the brand’s return, adding that Zellers is “continuing to listen to our customers, introduce new offerings and bring Zellers to more communities.”