‘Blast from the past’: Zellers stores reopen Thursday, food trucks roll-in
Posted Mar 23, 2023 7:54 am.
Last Updated Mar 24, 2023 7:26 am.
After a ten-year hiatus, Zellers is opening its first Calgary store in the city’s northeast Thursday.
The new Zellers is being branded as an experience-style store and will be set up inside the Hudson’s Bay at Sunridge Mall.
In total, some 25 stores are expected to open across Canada this spring season.
Alberta’s stores include Kingsway Garden Mall in Edmonton, Medicine Hat Mall, and the northeast mall in Calgary.
But is the hype real? Or merely a matter of nostalgia?
“I’m happy because they’re back,” a shopper told CityNews.
“I love everything that the store Zellers sells, especially the clothes. I want to be the first customer right here.”
Another shopper shared fond memories while also sharing his hopes to see prices low because it’s “where the lowest price is the law.”
“I used to go to Zellers all the time. My mom used to work in the restaurant there. And yeah, I used to love eating there. My hamburgers and fries, yeah.”
“Hopefully, it’s still affordable because of inflation nowadays and everything going up. It’d be nice to be able to get some deals.”
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As the city’s store is set to open along with 12 other Canadian locations on March 23, Zellers will also be introducing food trucks which pay homage to the store’s retro diners.
The five foods that will appear on the “Diner on Wheels” menu are the “Big Z Burger,” “Hot Chicken Sandwich,” “Grilled Cheese,” “Chicken Fingers,” and “Fries and Gravy.”
Diner on Wheels will be at the northeast mall starting Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
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Calgarians wait in line for ‘Fries and Gravy’
A line-up of people outside the Hudson’s Bay in Sunridge Mall in Calgary on Thursday, March 23, 2023. (Deejay Todd, CityNews photo)
Inside the mall Thursday morning, there were over 100 people waiting to enter Hudson’s Bay.
CityNews spoke with a few people that were waiting in line.
“I grew up going to Zellers with my mom and grandma, so it’s just kind of blast from the past kind of feeling,” said one person in line.
She hopes to grab “Fries and gravy” from the food truck when she can.
“Hopefully, they’re successful and end up opening more, maybe … freestanding stores on their own, and it’d be nice,” she said.
Carey, another prospective shopper, told CityNews he got his first credit card from Zellers 10 years ago.
“I used to take my mother here, my late mother here, for lunch every day,” he said.
“It brings back a lot of nostalgic memories … It’s great to have it back. Good people. We need that at this time.”
He says a store like Zellers is needed now since high prices are affecting Canadians.
“Everyone’s jacking up prices everywhere, and the general public, we don’t want to see that … we’re very committed to places that provide good prices,” Carey said.
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Zellers reopening comes at a time when people are seeking relief from the highest inflation in nearly 40 years, as it offers competition in a discount market dominated by Walmart, Giant Tiger and Dollarama.
The resurrection of the retailer also taps into the nostalgia for the Zellers brand, evoking fond memories of the meals at its diner and Zeddy, its teddy bear mascot.
It’s also launched a Zellers e-commerce website, with all items online and in-store featuring “rounded pricing.” For example, $5 rather than $4.99 or $5.49.
Skepticism over reopening
But Moshe Lander, an economist from Concordia University, isn’t sold on the store’s return.
He says that despite consumerist hype, nostalgia isn’t enough for sustainability.
“Zellers’ time has come and gone, and no amount of nostalgia is going to make that a good business model. Walmart will bury it,” Lander said.
“This is not the Zellers they remember. So if it succeeds, it’s that new Zellers element, not that old Zellers element.”
Hudson’s Bay Co. (HBC), the parent company of Zellers, first announced the comeback last summer.
It announced plans to sell most of its remaining Zellers leases to Target Corp. in 2011 and shuttered most of its stores in 2013.
HBC kept a handful of Zellers locations open as liquidation outlets until 2020.
-With files from Lucas Casaletto, Deejay Todd, and The Canadian Press
