Target to introduce a 5% discount at their stores in Canada | Credit card reward programs | Discussion forum

Target always struck me as just another version of Walmart except the dominant color is red not blue....
Mostly the same imported stuff too. I just dont see the fuss of people salivating for the stores to open?
How does anyone have any money left to spend when a recent report said Canadians are carrying more debt that the USA? Isnt it like a debt ratio of 164% on average now? How much crap do people need to buy? CRAZY.

kanaka said
Be cautious.....Target is not really a discount store. It has value and product but dont feel warm and cozy that it is a one shop stop for the best price!!!!

I am not very excited about Target coming to town. Everything I have read about it is rather negative. Their return policy for unsatifactory merchandise is just about zip! "You bought it! It's yours!" They carry very little in the way of top name brands or high end models. I looked at their TVs on the web, and they carry nothing I would buy. Of familiar name brands, they only carry the very lowest end models, plus mostly a lot of offbeat obscure brands you've never heard of before.

I doubt that we will be doing much shopping at Target.

kanaka said
Just wait till the newness wears off and Target won't be any better than what Zellers was. As Canadian cross border shopper have I shopped at Target...yes a few times....did I buy anything NO...but my wife did...is it worth while to shop there every time we cross...absolutely not.

Let's face it.....the first thing they need to do is build loyalty and give us as many options as possible to take our hard earned dollars.

To be loyal to specific retailers, gas bars, restaurants is a thing of the past!!!

Well . . . Target finally opened in our area, and we joined the crowd of browsers surveying the new competition in town. Most of the crowd were spectators like us, just strolling around without a buggy, observing the landscape. The few that had buggies were just pushing around empty buggies.

The first thing we noticed as we entered the store, was the "customer satisfaction" declaration posted on the wall. They don't have a customer satisfaction policy!!! Their return policy is limited to return of unopened merchandise in new condition.

Target's policy is about the same as The Source, who demands that any item returned must be in new and re-saleable condition. You have to go through this kind of crap before you fully understand the implications of this kind of customer policy; i.e. my son bought a new DVD player at The Source. Got it home, plugged it in . . . and zilch! Totally dead!! So he immediately took the dead DVD player back to the source for a replacement or refund. He was denied either! No replacement! No refund! on the basis that since it was obviously dead, it failed to qualify for refund or replacement, since it was not in "new and re-saleable condition!!" The Source sent it out for a six-week repair!!

Target's customer service policy reads very much like the Source.

Anyway, I checked familiar prices. The cost of routine vitamins and supplements pretty much ran about 150%!! of what the same products would cost at WalMart or Superstore. That seemed to be the common pricing pattern (just like Zellers) we observed as we strolled through the store; until we got to the clothing section. Not only was the clothing running about 200% of WalMart, but my wife who is more of an expert than I am, couldn't believe the obviously LOW quality of their clothing offerings!!

And I came up with the very same observation as you: Just wait till the newness wears off and Target won't be any better than what Zellers. My comment to my wife as we left the first-day crowded store: Give it a month, and you'll be able to shoot a canon from one end of the store to the other without hitting anyone!! . . . Just like Zellers!!

Like I said.
Just wait till the newness wears off and Target won't be any better than what Zellers was.

So Stan and GSmall99 we must be from the same era.

I can see that it does not appear to be a wait like I predicted!!! You can see no deals and prices no better that other retailers in your area.

The extra staff on duty will dwindle ... just wait. They hire an army and keep the good ones and let the rest go. That is the normal routine for any one setting up a new shop.

Zellers here Maple Ridge BC was a place I would not shop at....the people working there were far tooooo lethargic!!!

If you look back many years ago when there was a thing called service...you would go into a store or lumber yard and you would be asked if you need some help (and advice too!) and they would get the item for you, ring it up and off you go.

Today you go into a super store with merchandise strategically placed for impulse buying, you hunt for what you are looking for with no help round, you find the item, and then you wait in a line to buy it.

So here is what pisses me off.
You find the item, no price, no bin ticket, no one to help. Off I go to the next store.
You find the item, you go to buy it and there is a huge line to finalize the purchase. Off I go to the next store.
You find the item, you go to buy it and there is a huge line to finalize the purchase. There are 10 cash registers and only 1 or 2 of them are manned. Off I go to the next store.
You find the item, you go to buy it and there is a huge line to finalize the purchase. There are 10 cash registers and none are manned .... just self checkout or the dual purpose returns/check out area. Off I go to the next store.

Do I really go off to the next store....sometimes not.....I ask myself if I really need the item and half the time I do not ..... so no purchase.

The BAG thing is on and off throughout BC. One retailer starts and it drops.
Rona charges but it goes to charity
Super Store charges and it goes to their profit
Staples charges and it goes to charity....not sure if they have dropped the charge or not
To this time I dont think there is a city that has put a plastic bag ban it yet.

How silly is it to shop for groceries and hardware and not get a bag to take it away .... part of the service .. and to charge for a bag .... no no not for me. I avoid shopping where they charge for bags.

If I wanted to give to a charity, I would ..... but the province does that for me.

But when the province or a city puts in a plastic bag ban along with a 5 cent mandatory charge like some cities in Washington State it just becomes another form of TAXATION!!!

We do recycle and some cities fine you if you don't.

Give me a free bag .... be it plastic or paper .... I WILL recycle it.

Why do pop/beer cans/bottle in BC have a deposit fee and an eco fee? Drop the fees as I WILL recycle them!!!

GS said

The town of Orillia, Ontario passed a by-law outlawing the "free bag" and forced retailers to charge something (5 cents) for bags. Three years later they reversed themselves as described here.

Toronto passed a similar by-law and when they were debating changes to it ended up banning bags entirely as described here. I am not sure what the current status is.

My wife has purchased clothing from The Bay, refused to pay the 5 cents, and wandered through the store with purchases in hand. The sales folks are VERY unhappy as they cannot tell her from the shoplifters, although she is walking calmly through the store with the items of clothing in her hand with the price tags waving merrily in the breeze.

Greg

Sears started it a few years back and it dwindled away. I worked in retail and I can reassure you that it would not be the clerks with the problem. It would be the security folks wondering who is the bad guy vs the good guy not to mention the management at the store. A few incorrect arrests and worn out security officers watching the good guy while the bad guy gets away with the goods.....probably more stolen than what the revenue would have been from the sale of the bags. 5 cents a bag is a rip off too....do you know a bag is only worth a fraction of a cent??