NEW YORK — There’s no contest in Canada. Walmart will have 396 locations there by next January. Target will have zero.
While some U.S. retailers are really struggling to make it work up north, Walmart is expanding its presence. It will have 29 more supercenter stores there this year, after adding 35 last year. Meanwhile, Target is in the process of shutting down completely.
Most of the new supercenters will be located at existing stores, where Walmart will add a full grocery department, but two are completely new. The expansion, which will include beefing up its Canadian ecommerce operations, will cost about $270 million.
Overall, Walmart said will create 3,700 construction jobs and 1,300 retail and distribution jobs.
After struggling in Canada for years, Target announced in January that it is closing up shop there, shutting 133 stores. The Canada stores weren’t projected to become profitable until at least 2021.
The company is currently offering deep discounts on just about everything in the stores. It expects the last stores to close in June.
Target is not the only U.S. retailer having troubles up north. Sears, Best Buy and Big Lots have recently closed stores in Canada as well.
The-CNN-Wire
