Retail in Canada

Following the high-profile collapse of Target Canada and the closure of its 133 stores, Walmart has solidified its dominance in the Canadian retail landscape. Since acquiring the Canadian Woolco chain in 1994, Walmart swiftly emerged as the market leader, while many other store chains vanished before and after its arrival. Canada remains a prime destination for U.S. retailers, often serving as their first international expansion market. Below is a list of current and past retailers in Canada.

DEPARTMENT STORES:

Canada had its department stores from the 1900's to today: Morgan's, Hudson's Bay, T.Eaton's, Simpsons, Dupuis and more. Hudson's Bay is the oldest one and acquired Morgan's. Dupuis failed, Eaton's and Simpson's kept on going. In the late 90's, the "Big 3" department store chains were Hudson's Bay, Sears and Eaton's.

Sears Canada 1953-2018

Sears Canada was formed in 1952 as a joint venture of the Canadian chain Simpson's and U.S. based Sears, Roebuck & Co. In 1978, The Hudson's Bay Company acquired Simpson's In 1984, the chain became known as Sears Canada Inc. Simpson's disappeared from the retail landscape in 1991 when Hudson's Bay merged these stores into its The Bay chain. Sears introduced free-standing furniture & appliance stores in 1995. In 1999, Sears acquired trademarks and some stores from the bankrupt Eaton's chain. In 2009 Sears Canada was 73% owned by Sears Holdings Co. In 2010, Sears finally was able to gain control of 92% of Sears Canada's shares. In 2012, the US parent company scaled back its ownership to 51%. The chain started to downsize in recent years with the sale of its headquarters, credit card and the closing of several stores.

In 2016, Sears Canada decided to change its logo. It kept closing stores and posting losses. The company stopped selling electronics, closed some portrait studios and downsized some tool departments. Sears has sold several mall locations back to landlords and also closed and sold free-standing Sears Home stores to Leon's Furniture. As with its US counterpart, the future of Sears appears uncertain. In 2017, the company announced it had doubts about its ability to continue operating. In June the chain obtained court protection from its creditors and announced the closing of 59 stores (including 20 full-line stores) resulting in 2,900 layoffs. At the end of September Sears announced the closing of 10 more stores. Then on October 10th, 2017 the company announced it would ask the court for the approval to liquidate the remaining assets and close all the stores. The company was granted permission to go ahead and liquidate the remaining assets and close all stores. Several stores closed early in 2018 and the remaining stores closed forever on January 14, 2018.

Hudson's Bay Company (HBC/The Bay) 1670-2025

Hudson's Bay Company was formed in 1670 as a trading company. It eventually evolved from trading posts to became the department store chain that is known today. In 1960, The Bay acquired Morgan's. In 1978 HBC acquired Zellers and Simpson's department stores. It acquired Towers stores in 1990 and merged them into its Zellers division. In 1993 the company acquired Woodward's and converted them into The Bay and Zellers stores. The company also created a "bed, bath & beyond" clone called Home Outfitters. In 2008 HBC was sold to NRDC Equity Partners, owners of Lord & Taylor. In 2012, HBC started to rename its "The Bay" stores to "Hudson's Bay". In 2013, HBC acquired Saks Incorporated. In 2025, HBC announced it was seeking creditor protection. In March 2025, HBC announced it was looking at starting a full liquidation of all remaining stores.

Eaton's 1869-2002

T.Eaton's was founded by Timothy Eaton in Toronto in 1869. It grew to become one of Canada's largest retailer. Eaton's had stores as well as a catalogue operation. Eaton's had financial troubles in the late 90's and closed stores. They started a new marketing plan, created a new logo and renovated some stores but it was too late, the company bankrupted in 1999. Sears Canada bought 7 of the downtown stores in major cities plus many other mall stores. It bought the Eaton's name, logo trademark and private brands including "Viking" appliances that started to be sold at Sears stores. It reopened the totally renovated seven Eatons stores located downtown in large cities. Other Mall locations were renamed Sears. Unfortunately, the Eatons division was not doing well enough for the company and the 7 stores were later converted back into Sears.

CURRENT DISCOUNT RETAILERS:

Giant Tiger 1961-

Giant Tiger is a chain of more than 200 discount department stores located across Canada. The company doubled its store base since 2000. It's the largest discount store chain in Canada after Walmart. Giant Tiger's President & COO held the same position at Zellers before joining the company.

Hart stores 1960-

Hart is a small chain of discount stores operated by Hartco, a company that once owned Compucentres. Hart took over many Wise and Peoples locations. Today, Hart's is an independent division of Hartco and has another discount brand: Bargain Giant. In 2011, the company liquidated 32 stores as part of its reorganization. Lately, the chain has opened new banners focused on home furnishings and added more home furnishings and home decor to existing Hart stores.

Korvette 1958-

Korvette is a 72-store retail chain that operates only in Quebec. It is unrelated to the former E.J.Korvettes chain although the name was directly inspired from the U.S. chain's. The company operates small discount stores in rural, underserved towns. Hart Stores acquired Korvette in 2024 and started consolidating the Korvette operations into its fold.

Rossy 1963-

Rossy is a chain similar to Korvette and Hart with small discount stores in rural towns. They operate mostly in eastern Canada. Rossy sells clothing, furniture, seasonal, gifts, toys, home products and more. Rossy celebrated its 60th anniversary and has reached a total of 85 stores in 2023.

Winners 1990-

Winners is the Canadian division of Tjx. Company. The chain was acquired by Tjx in 1990 and had only 5 stores back then. They are very similar to Marshalls and Tjmaxx. The company introduced the Marshalls brand in Canada in March 2011. The Canadian division also operates HomeSense stores which are essentially re-branded HomeGoods stores. These stores were introduced in 2001. As of 2025, Winners operates around 307 stores in Canada.

Marshalls 2013-

Marshalls began taking shape in Canada in 2011 and opened 7 new Canadian stores in April 2013, including a 55,000 sq.ft. Toronto flagship store. The chain has opened 14 Canadian stores since March 2011 and had 27 Canadian locations by the end of 2013. The company expects to open up to 100 new Canadian stores in the next 10 years. As of 2025, the company operates 109 stores in Canada.

Walmart Canada 1994-

Walmart arrived in Canada in 1994 with the acquisition of 122 Woolco stores. The company has been thriving in Canada, surpassing its rival Zellers in sales and number of stores. Walmart introduced Sam's Club in Canada but the venture was short as in 2009, Walmart announced that it would close all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations. In October 2012, the company operated 366 stores. This number included 39 former Zellers stores acquired from Target Canada in 2011. Walmart took a giant leap with these new stores. Target Canada went out of business in 2015 and Walmart acquired 13 former Target stores. Walmart Canada operates approximately 403 stores including 344 branded as Supercentres.

Some of the other American retailers in Canada are:

Toys'r'us
Old Navy
Home Depot
Best Buy
Nordstrom
EB Games
Claire's
GAP
American Eagle
Staples
Dollar Tree
Costco
Michael's
Petsmart
Foot Locker

Other closed retail chains in Canada:

Steinberg's supermarkets
Morgan's
Met Mart
Cardinal
Consumer Distributing ( like Serv.Merch.)
Club Biz (office supply)
Simpson's
Woodwards
Wizmart

Quebec Kmart Locations:

Quebec City - Place Quatre-Bourgeois
Quebec City - Place Fleur de Lys
Valleyfield - Kmart Plaza
Granby - Galeries de Granby
Gatineau
Laval
Shawinigan - Plaza de la Mauricie

Defunt discount chains in Canada

Founded: 1947
Closed: 2008
Stores: 350
Headquarters: Mississauga, Ontario

Saan Stores Ltd. (Surplus Army, Air Force, Navy) was a chain of discount department stores that began in Winnipeg. The chain grew to 350 stores by 1990. In 1997, it acquired 89 stores from Greenberg's. It filed for bankruptcy, emerged in 2005 down to 142 stores. The chain went out of business in June 2008. Several assets of the former chain were purchased by The Bargain Shop, another retail chain itself started as a closeout division of Woolworth.

Founded: 19XX
Closed: 1994
Stores: 160
Headquarters: Unknown

Woolco had similar stores as the ones operated by the U.S. Woolco chain. Woolco lasted longer in Canada than its U.S. counterpart which closed in 1983. The company operated 160 stores at its peak. In 1994, Woolworth sold 122 stores to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. These stores have reopened as Walmarts and some of them are still in operation today in the same former Woolco buildings.

Founded: 19XX
Closed: 1993
Stores: XXX
Headquarters: Unknown

Woolworth's operated many stores until 1994 when the Canadian division was sold. Late in 1993, 100 of 123 stores in Canada became The Bargain!Shop, a chain that was initially the closeout division of Woolworth. Woolworth also sold its Woolco stores in Canada to Walmart in 1994. In 1999, the company closed 109 stores and sold the rest of The Bargain!Shop to an investment company. In 2008, that chain acquired 93 former Saan stores.

Founded: 1914
Closed: 1995
Stores:
Headquarters:

Peoples was a chain of small discount stores that was founded in 1914. It was sold to Mark & Spencer Canada. The chain was acquired by Wise Stores in 1992. Wise eventually went out of business in 1995. Wise and Peoples were similar chains.

Founded: 1930
Closed: 1995
Stores:
Headquarters: Montreal, Quebec

Wise merged with Peoples in in 1992. In 1994, Wise closed down 13 under performing Wise and Wizmart stores. The company announced in December 1994 that it would go bankrupt and both chains were closed early in 1995.

Founded: 1960
Closed: 1990
Stores: 51
Headquarters: Mississauga, Ontario

Towers was founded in 1960. In Quebec the chain was called Bonimart. The chain was owned by the Oshawa Group hence their logo in the B of Bonimart's logo. In 1990, Towers/Bonimart's 51 stores were acquired by Zellers and most converted to the Zellers name, the rest was closed.

Founded: 1931
Closed: 2020*
Stores:
Headquarters: Brampton, Ontario

*Relaunched as a Zellers section within Hudson's Bay stores in 2023.

Zellers was founded in 1931 when Walter P. Zellers acquired Schulte-United's 14 stores. Zeller's is then thriving and in 1952, they acquire Federal 5 & 10 stores. They also signed an accord with the W.T.Grant Co. The Grant Company was allowed to purchase 10% of Zellers common shares, and was given options that eventually translated into a 51% effective ownership of Zellers in 1959. In return for this, the "Grant Company was making available to Zellers its experience on matters of merchandise, real estate, store development, and general administration". This arrangement greatly benefited Zellers. Employees were sent to Grant stores and head office for training and together they made common buying trips to the Orient, a practice that benefited both chains. In 1978, Hudson's Bay Co. (HBC) acquired Zellers. At that time, Zellers had more than twice the number of stores of Walmart Canada. Unfortunately for them, they kept downsizing from that point. Zellers closed around 80 stores over 12 years.

In a historic deal, the majority of Zellers leases were acquired by Target Corporation in 2011 for their expansion into Canada. Zellers would have kept roughly 70 stores scattered across Canada. Not long after the deal, HBC announced it would close the remaining stores in 2013. In a surprise move, HBC later announced it would keep 3 stores open under the Zellers name but as liquidation stores for HBC. In 2017, two of these Zellers stores were still open. The stores eventually closed.

In January 2023, it was announced that Zellers was coming back with 25 locations in Canada within existing Hudson's Bay department stores (and with an online presence). In September 2023, it was announced that Zellers was coming back to all remaining Hudson’s Bay locations. The locations typically have a footprint ranging from 1,000 to 2,800 square feet. In 2025, HBC announced it was seeking creditor protection and at possibly liquidating and closing all remaining stores. Zellers once again vanished from the Canadian retail landscape. In 2025, a company relaunched the Zellers brand and plans to open a store in Alberta in the fall of 2025.

Founded: 19
Closed: 1998
Stores: 127
Headquarters: Brampton, Ontario

Kmart was introduced in Canada by Kresge Ltd. Kresge was itself introduced in 1929 to Canadians with the creation of Kresge Ltd. The last Canadian Kresge closed in 1994, while Kmart Canada still operated 127 stores. The Canadian Kmart division was sold by Kmart Corporation to an investor group in 1998. Later that year the company went out of business. Most of the 127 stores were bought back by Zellers, the biggest discount chain in Canada back then. They also hired Kmart Canada's former CEO, George Heller to lead Zellers. Zellers had more than 340 stores in Canada following the Kmart acquisition.

Founded: 1961
Closed: 1992
Stores: more than 30?
Headquarters: Montreal, Quebec

Miracle Mart was a discount store chain created by the Steinberg's supermarket chain. They opened stores near almost every Steinberg's supermarkets or in shopping centers the company owned. Steinberg's owned several shipping centers through their real estate division called Ivanhoe. Ivanhoe still exists today as Ivanhoe-Cambridge. In 1987, the chain was renamed M stores in an effort to change it's image. The chain went out of business in 1992 after the Steinberg chain collapsed and no buyer was found for the discount chain.

Founded:
Closed: 1997
Stores: 169
Headquarters:

Greenberg stores were small-sized discount stores operated by Gendis Ltd. and were located in many smaller towns. It was mainly a clothing store but they usually had a restaurant, toys, small appliances, candies, and other departments. The company also operated Met Mart (Metropolitan Mart), another discount chain. When Greenberg's and Met Mart closed for good, 89 stores were re-opened as Saan stores.

Founded: 2013
Closed: 2015
Stores: 113
Headquarters: Mississauga, Ontario

Target opened its first stores in Canada in the spring of 2013. The company was formed much like Walmart Canada, with an acquisition of an existing store chain in Canada. Target announced it would acquire up to 220 leasehold interests of Zellers stores in January 2011. In the end, Target selected 189 leases, they sold 39 to Walmart Canada and 125 were confirmed as future Target stores. Stores have opened in March and during the Summer of 2013, the balance was scheduled to open early in the Fall of 2013. The chain initially expected to reach up to 200 stores within ten years. 3 pilot stores had their soft opening in early March 2013. In January 2015, Target Corp. announced they would close all 133 Canadian stores due to the many troubles and mounting losses of the division. Former Target stores were sold to Walmart, Lowe's, Canadian Tire, SuperC and other retailers while other locations were sub-divided, redeveloped and some are still vacant in 2024.

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