467 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

No I did not.

Is that the only example?

So Canada is taking over America? I didn't know that.

CN.

[sdwright.vic]

Ok so overall....what is the ratio between Canada and the U.S. invading each other business wise?

Understand I'm looking at this from my bird's eye view. Retail.

Sorry I feel I derailed this thread.

You did not derail the thread. You asked for some is a valid question. While you are looking at a birds eye view, I can not fault u for not knowing a full picture view. All that is ever in the news is the Americans are coming! The Americans are coming!

Rarely does the media toot Canada's horn about their move south.

While this jobs are minimum wage they are twice as many jobs as each zellers store had and wages above 10.00 an hour.

Looking in the states minimum wage is $7.25. While prices at target may end up being about 25% more then US stores, I would rather have the opportunity to pay that premium then cross the boarder for lower prices and support poverty in the states.

[LJ]

Ok so overall....what is the ratio between Canada and the U.S. invading each other business wise?

Understand I'm looking at this from my bird's eye view. Retail.

I know nothing of the banking world etc.

To me in my mind I see more people becoming unemployed being replaced by minimum wages and no benefits.
This math does not compute for me economy wise.

The more people unemployed or also earning minimum wage leaves no money to spend. How does that boost the economy?

Sorry I feel I derailed this thread.

How about the water world, EPCOR from Alberta is buying up US water companies wherever they can, Arizona American Water is the latest one.

[LJ]

Rarely does the media toot Canada's horn about their move south.

.

It's funny because most Americans don't know that Canadians own a lot of their businesses. For one example, in advertising all you see is TD Ameritrade, they don't know that TD stands for Toronto Dominion and you won't find that fact in any of their literature either.

[sdwright.vic]

It's funny because most Americans don't know that Canadians own a lot of their businesses. For one example, in advertising all you see is TD Ameritrade, they don't know that TD stands for Toronto Dominion and you won't find that fact in any of their literature either.

Which is part of the reason Bank of Nova Scotia is Scotia Bank, Royal Bank of Canada is RBC, et al. As the Canadian banks bought up the US investment firms they rebranded to make the names less "Canadian". But just cause its called KFC now doesn't mean the Chicken is still not fried!

[Mr_E_Squirrel]

There an opening date for Target at Tillicum yet?

[sdwright.vic]

There an opening date for Target at Tillicum yet?

Still nothing announced. Just the end of the month. BUT lots of Target name tag wearing people running around Tillicum.

[jonny]

Ok so overall....what is the ratio between Canada and the U.S. invading each other business wise?

Understand I'm looking at this from my bird's eye view. Retail.

I know nothing of the banking world etc.

To me in my mind I see more people becoming unemployed being replaced by minimum wages and no benefits.
This math does not compute for me economy wise.

The more people unemployed or also earning minimum wage leaves no money to spend. How does that boost the economy?

Sorry I feel I derailed this thread.

That ratio would take years of studying to come to a conclusion.

In retail most jobs are minimum wage unless you're the owner. Replacing Zellers employees with Target employees will have no material impact on retail industry wages. They probably pay very similarly. There have always been minimum wage jobs in our economy, and there always will be. People who are stuck in minimum wage situations past the age of 20 need to look at themselves in the mirror if they are looking for reasons. Look at yourself, evaluate your skillset, and find places within the marketplace where you can use or enhance your skills to greater financial benefit. It's not Target's fault that not everybody is paid over $20 an hour.

Thankfully, we have an open market. US companies are the absolute kings of retail. There is no disputing that. They have low cost, low margin, high volume sales down to a freaking science! A big issue with retail is getting your manufacturing costs down. Companies like Wal Mart are great at squeezing every extra cent possible out of their suppliers, which smaller competitors have no hope of achieving.

There are a lot of Canadian companies that do very well internationally. I have no problem with global companies setting up shop in Canada.

There are many global Canadian bred banking, resource based, oil and gas companies. Some I can think of that haven't been mentioned, aside from all of the big Canadian banks and oil and gas companies, are Lululemon, Sun Life, Manulife, Gilden, Couche-Tarde, Ritchie Bros, Magna, Agrium, Methanex, CN, CP...there are lots!

Canadian companies may not necessarily be world class in retail (see Zellers, the Bay) or other areas like technology (although there have been some very successful Canadian tech companies like Cognos that have been taken over), but the great thing with our global economy is that it allows the Canadian companies that are really good at what they do (see above) excel, and it allows great foreign companies greater access to the Canadian market so that we as consumers can benefit.

There are many global companies that Canadian consumers love like Costco, Wal Mart, H&M, American Apparrel and maybe Target. I hope Target does well because I hate Wal Mart and places like Shoppers and London Drugs are generally more expensive. We'll see. Retail is crowded and hyper competitive.

[spanky123]

In retail most jobs are minimum wage unless you're the owner.

In which case you work for less than minimum wage!

[jonny]

In which case you work for less than minimum wage!

Absolutely! In many (most?) cases this is true, but then again proprietors get some sort of sick satisfaction out of building a successful business and don't really view it as work!

[bcdoug]

I hope Target will be competitive price-wise with Wal-Mart. In the US Target is priced just a bit higher but their sales will get you great deals. Wal-Mart in the US, for the most part, is a trashy store. My experiences were always messy stores and out of control kids, no matter what time of day or night. Target was never like that. Wal-Mart here, at least in Langford, is SO much more civil compared to the US stores. We still don't shop there but did check it out last summer. I was quite surprised. Target customer service in the US was always top rate and I suspect they will bring that here as well. Target will hopefully offer a wider array of daily basics plus they have their own private label line that saves you quite a bit over name brands, which they also carry. There is absolutely no comparison, in my mind, to Zellers. Zellers was a whole different planet. I am quite excited to see them open up here but the jury is still out as far as pricing. We won't drive 40 minutes to shop there if the prices can't stack up to the competition.

We drove past yesterday and saw landscaping done, painters working on outside trim at the entrance and what appeared to be quite a lot of shelving and display units inside, although no merchandise to be seen yet.

[Sparky]

Welcome to vibrantvictoria bcdoug.

[Sparky]

I wonder if there will be a web page featuring the people of Target, like this one of Walmart customers.

http://www.peopleofw.../random-photos/

[weisguy86]

From inside the mall today, I am amazed they relocated/replaced the escalators. They have also added a shopping cart escalator to keep up with Walmart.

[Matt R.]

Weird I was at the same spot this afternoon and almost took the same photo.

Surprised at how it looks the same as Zellers.

Matt.

[HB]

Weird I was at the same spot this afternoon and almost took the same photo.

Surprised at how it looks the same as Zellers.

Matt.

Maybe that is because it is the exact same building?
Or maybe it is because both companies use the same colours???
The escalators are the same?
Not really surprising at all.
Ok I m being a little sarcastic.

[FoodLoverNomad]

Target is a welcome addition to the big retailer landscape here. A little competition is good and nobody is forced to shop there or Walmart for that matter. It will bring jobs.

[HB]

Target is a welcome addition to the big retailer landscape here. A little competition is good and nobody is forced to shop there or Walmart for that matter. It will bring jobs.

Its not really going to bring new jobs. They will just rehire those that were released from Zellers. Maybe not all the same ones but the same amount. The manager of the Hillside one is the Zellers manager who before that was the KMart Manager at Canwest.
So I dont really agree that " It will bring Jobs" the jobs were already there and still are there with a lay off period in between will a new coat of paint is spalshed on the place and a new sign put up.
Taget doesnt sell anything spectacular. It will not be like shopping in a US location where you can buy a 8 pack of AA Blue Energizer lithium batteries for $6 ...Nope it is still Canada where that will cost you $40
People get sucked in by what they think is a good thing when in fact its just another store.
There will be huge line ups the first few days to get in to see the same old same old.....

.A majority of those in the line up with be welfare recipients lined up with their mobile baby farms in strollers ...... waiting to get the "good" same stuff Walmart sells and the same stuff that Zellers sold.

The only thing in Target that may interet me is the Starbucks .. I wont have to deal with parking by London Drugs to go get my fix I can park up top .

When I think of Target I do not think high end, or expensive or quality. I think of Walmart and cheap particle board furniture and I think of all the cargo containers at the dock with Chinese writing on them.

[gumgum]

Wow this looks so familiar. Like somewhere I've been before. If I could remember what it was called. Z something or other?

[sdwright.vic]

^^ History Buff u do realize each store is going to have about twice as many employees that Zellers stores had. A lot more will be full time positions as well.