Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd., the Toronto-based general merchandiser, has acquired the leases for 12 of the Target stores being closed in Canada.
In an action subject to approval by the Canadian bankruptcy court, Canadian Tire has agreed to pay 17.7 million Canadian dollars, or approximately $14 million at current exchange, for leases that would add about 400,000 square feet of space to the company’s store network.
“We’ve been tracking certain Target properties for some time and, when the opportunity came up, we moved quickly and secured virtually all of them,” said Michael Medline, president and chief executive officer of Canadian Tire. “We chose 12 properties that fit strategically and financially into our store network.”
Canadian Tire, which operates about 1,700 retail and gasoline locations throughout Canada, said the addition of the stores would permit it “to improve profitability by providing a cost-effective means to improve its retail store network through right-sizing and replacing some of its existing stores to better locations.”
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Target in January said it would close its 133 stores in Canada under the protection of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, the Canadian equivalent of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Alvarez & Marsal is serving as the court-appointed monitor in the proceedings.
The 12 locations are: Bayers Lake Power Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia; Northwest Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick; Alexis Nihon Plaza and Place Versailles in Montreal; Les Carrefours Rimouski in Rimouski, Quebec; Aurora Centre in Aurora, Ontario; Sudbury Super Mall in Sudbury, Ontario; Grant Park Shopping Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Driftwood Mall in Courtenay, British Columbia; Tamarack Shopping Centre in Cranbrook, British Columbia; Village Green Centre in Vernon, British Columbia, and Hillside Centre in Victoria, British Columbia.
Selling products ranging from automotive parts to sporting goods and workwear, Canadian Tire claims that more than 90 percent of Canada’s population lives within 15 minutes of one of its stores.