Sighting in the scope

Last week's announcement that took the Canadian retail industry by storm, the buy-out of Zellers by US-based Target, has everyone in the Kootenays wondering about the Zellers store here.

It is going to take some time before Target decides which stores get the facelift, said Kevin Kowalchuk, store manager for Zellers in Cranbrook.

“As far as we’re concerned at store level, it’s business as usual for the next year and then in 2012, they (Target) will have decided by then which stores they want,” Kowalchuk said.

By the time Target makes a decision on which Zellers locations get a makeover, the company will have a plan in place to deal with excess locations, which may include resale to other retailers, Kowalchuk added.

Any decision rendered will affect roughly 100 employees that work at the Cranbrook location and about the same number in Trail.