Target Canada to close all locations : Will you miss it?

U.S. discounter Target Corp. is closing its money-losing stores in Canada after almost two troubled years here.

The Minneapolis-based retailer said on Thursday it filed an application for protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.

The U.S. based retail company currently has 133 Canadian locations and 17,600 employees across the country. That includes two locations in London, one at Westmount Shopping Centre, the other at Masonville Place.

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“As part of the process, Target Corporation has created an Employee Trust that is designed to provide Target Canada team members with a minimum of 16 weeks of payments and benefit coverage, even for team members who are not required for the full wind-down period,” Eric Hausman wrote in an email to The Spectator.

The company says the stores will remain open during a court-supervised liquidation.

Target says it will also work with an advisor to sell its real estate.

Target Canada has struggled from the start and there has been speculation in business circles that its days were numbered.

Its parent in Minneapolis said Thursday that it expects to spend between US$500 million and US$600 million in cash to discontinue the Canadian operations.

Target Corp. will also about US$5.4 billion in pre-tax losses in its fourth-quarter, mostly related to the Canadian operation.

Agencies/Canadajournal