VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Next year’s Christmas shopping game will look very different. The retail landscape is about to change. The US-based retailer Target is expected to open up more than a hundred stores at old Zellers locations in 2013.

Richard Warnika with Canadian Business Magazine says the American retailer will be a success.

“[But] I think the big [questions are] one, ‘Will the Canadian economy stay strong?’ They’re definitely betting on that. And two, from their perspective, ‘Are Canadians going to buy into the brand the way Americans have?’”


Warnica explains Target has been such a success because it has branded itself as “discount…but not cheap.”

“But if people aren’t coming in and having a better experience in the stores and finding products they want, all that pre-marketing hype won’t amount to much,” he warns.

He isn’t sure if we’ll get the same “Target-mania” because the company may have to price items a little higher than we’re used to seeing in the States and that could turn us against the discount retailer.