Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

OT - What do Canadiens (or is it Canadians?) have against Target?

Options
Tjcoley
Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
in Off Topic
Just curious. Wondering what the issue is? Walmart I can understand, but Target?
__________________________________________
It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
- Camp Hill, PA
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • VANcouverEGG
    VANcouverEGG Posts: 173
    Options
    Ha. You know we are a bi-lingual country right? We are a lot like you.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • VANcouverEGG
    VANcouverEGG Posts: 173
    Options
    except for two languages and the metric system.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Options
    Hey, it's the free market.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,767
    Options
    i dont like walmart or target or even cabelas. i dont like any of the big boxes. you dont have to be canadian
    :D
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Egghead_Daron
    Egghead_Daron Posts: 862
    Options
    From what I was reading, Target really screwed that whole thing up. Tried to change the way they do business and it didn't work. Not sure what they were thinking but that was a huge financial loss for them. Target is my happy place.
    LBGE 2013, SBGE 2014, Mini 2015
    Columbus IN
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • hondabbq
    hondabbq Posts: 1,980
    Options
    They weren't offering anything other than the run of the mill items found everywhere else. I Love going for weekend roadtrips to the US and loading  up on groceries from Target. the Archer Farms line of products is awesome. They had none of it here. They did nothing to set themselves apart from other retailers from coast to coast. If they weren't able to match the better pricing in the US at least have something to bring people into the stores that no one else carries. That in my opinion is where they were flawed.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,670
    Options
    hondabbq said:

    They weren't offering anything other than the run of the mill items found everywhere else. I Love going for weekend roadtrips to the US and loading  up on groceries from Target. the Archer Farms line of products is awesome. They had none of it here. They did nothing to set themselves apart from other retailers from coast to coast. If they weren't able to match the better pricing in the US at least have something to bring people into the stores that no one else carries. That in my opinion is where they were flawed.

    Agreed

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • GATraveller
    GATraveller Posts: 8,207
    edited January 2015
    Options
    fishlessman said:
    i dont like walmart or target or even cabelas. i dont like any of the big boxes. you dont have to be canadian
    :D
    You live in Maine......as I see it that may as well be Canada.   :D

    I don't visit Target that often but SWMBO goes so much that I feel like I should own stock.

    "Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community [...] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots."
                                                                                  -Umberto Eco

    2 Large
    Peachtree Corners, GA
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,487
    Options
    When I was stationed at Grand Forks AFB in North Dakota, I was warned not to go grocery shopping off-base on the weekends.  I forgot the warning once and went, and learned why.  Several tour buses in the parking lot from Canada, and it took forever to get through the checkout line.  People would look at a list, take a few items out of their cart, pay for them out of one envelope, take a few more items out of their cart, pay for them out of another envelope, etc.
    Learned that cash-strapped canadians would get lists from their friends, come to GF from Winnipeg, and shop for them, then someone else would go the next weekend, etc.  
    To be fair, many of the airmen would take their wives up to Winnipeg to give birth, gaining dual citizenship for their kids and free health care (and we yanks grumble about "anchor babies" from Mexico).
    Not trying to start a debate, just an interesting experience.  That was in 1992, don't know if that still goes on or not.  
    _____________

    "Pro-Life" would be twenty students graduating from Sandy Hook next month  


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    edited January 2015
    Options
    You know it is Target right? It isn't Tarjrt. Just like IGA isn't Iga O:-)

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bweekes
    bweekes Posts: 725
    Options
    hondabbq said:
    They weren't offering anything other than the run of the mill items found everywhere else. I Love going for weekend roadtrips to the US and loading  up on groceries from Target. the Archer Farms line of products is awesome. They had none of it here. They did nothing to set themselves apart from other retailers from coast to coast. If they weren't able to match the better pricing in the US at least have something to bring people into the stores that no one else carries. That in my opinion is where they were flawed.
    Bang on. Pricing was way out of line compared to consumer expectations. 
    Ajax, ON Canada
    (XL BGE, MED BGE, La Caja China #2, and the wife's Napoleon gasser)
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • BigWader
    BigWader Posts: 673
    Options

    The biggest issue Target had in Canada was retail locations.  They bought bad real estate from Hudsons Bay (old Zeller's stores) that were in lower end retail plazas, already encroached by Walmart, etc. 

    To be successful they had to draw customers.  When they launched they severely botched having products in stock, having a wide assortment (they launched with WAY less SKUs than what a typical US target has) and pricing was not a draw.

    Customers that did try Target didn't get what they wanted, had to go to store locations that they didn't usually go to and had to pay same prices as their current habits.

    You can't win customers with that recipe... they killed themselves in a way because it wasn't a good launch.

    I really like Target in the US, and I like the cleaner, quieter pace of shopping at Target in Canada.  I will be sad to see them close here - especially now that our dollar is tanking!

    That and most of the job losses will be in Ontario so that is going to further screw our province's chances of a recovery.

    Toronto, Canada

    Large BGE, Small BGE

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bigalsworth
    bigalsworth Posts: 685
    Options
    @hondabbq nailed it.
    Large BGE
    BBQ Guru DigiQ II

    Martensville, Saskatchewan Canada
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Canugghead
    Canugghead Posts: 11,528
    edited January 2015
    Options
    Another Canadian department store chain has been in trouble several years now, thanks to its American Buffett wannabe hedge fund owner that uses it as personal ATM!
    canuckland
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Canugghead
    Canugghead Posts: 11,528
    edited January 2015
    Options
    never liked their corporate mascot, looks like it was wounded since day 0!
    image
    canuckland
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • cook861
    cook861 Posts: 872
    Options
    Target only went  into mall  (we had a zellers here) when target  took over  the cloest one was 45min  away wer the zellers was only 20 min away 
    Trenton ON 1 mbge for now
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    edited January 2015
    Options
    Hey you ON guys need to get on the eggers everywhere thread

    Sorry that is the "where is everyone" thread below

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Lit
    Lit Posts: 9,053
    Options
    I don't do target much. The one close to me isn't a super target so its like a cleaner WalMart. I do like 90% of my shopping between Costco, amazon, and home depot.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • GreenWave36
    GreenWave36 Posts: 132
    Options
    90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border. What Target failed to contemplate is many Canadians already shopped their stores in places like Buffalo and Detroit. When the stores opened in Canada, there was immediately a price perception issue. Prices were higher in Toronto than Buffalo, much like they are higher in Target stores in Boston than their stores in Buffalo. Target prices based on competition and operating costs in a market. It costs more to operate stores in Canada, it just didn't seem to matter for guest perception.

    The real estate was also not great (though these Zellers leaseholds were the only way they could enter Canada with any scale), and there were systems issues as well. But after they swept the confetti off the floor after the grand openings, traffic never really came back.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Doc_Eggerton
    Doc_Eggerton Posts: 5,321
    Options
    I like Meijer's.

    XXL #82 out of the first 100, XLGE X 2, LBGE (gave this one to daughter 1.0) , MBGE (now in the hands of iloveagoodyoke daughter 2.0) and lots of toys

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories