What's Happening in Calgary, AB…

U.S. retail giant Target opened its first stores in Calgary recently. The first locations unveiled were at Chinook Centre and Market Mall, as well as the Forest Lawn Shopping Centre. Each of the branches sparked a great turnout when doors opened to the public at 8am.

Tomorrow, the fourth Calgary location is expected to open at the Shoppes of Shawnessy in the South West.
Two additional stores are also due to open in the area later this year; one at Signal Hill and one at Sunridge mall, taking the total count to six locations.

Printing companies will no doubt be busy generating marketing materials for the much anticipated store openings, as well as providing business card printing for the estimated 1,000 employees Target Canada will have on hand in Calgary by the end of 2013.

In 2011, Target announced its intentions to develop a total of 124 stores across Canada, much to the delight of the shoppers who regularly cross the border to the U.S. in order to visit the stores. The move into Canada became possible when Target acquired store leases from the Zellers chain for $1.8 billion.

In addition to the sizeable purchase price of those leases, Target has been, or will be, investing budgets in the realm of $11-12 million into the renovation of the existing spaces.

The U.S. giant is a direct competitor to the Wal-Mart chain, which until now has had a dominant presence in Canada without any significant competition.