Zellers is back! (Again!)
Blue Jays in the World Series, Zellers returning to malls—we love a comeback story
You can’t say Zellers doesn’t persevere.
The on again, off again Canadian discount retailer will relaunch at Edmonton’s Londonderry Mall tomorrow as part of a phased rollout after stores have shuttered, then reopened, then shuttered numerous times since originally launching in 1928.
This time, according to a press release, Zellers will scale back its merchandise, and stores won’t be as large. “Zellers 3.0,” as the press release refers to it, “will revive the charm and nostalgia Canadians know and love, now reimagined for today’s shopper,” in spaces between 30,000 and 50,000 square feet. More stores will be announced by next spring.
As commercial landlords and optimistic billionaires around the country figure out what to do with mall space left vacant by the Bay’s closure, the press release notes that some Zellers locations will open in former Bay stores, though they’ll be reconfigured into “smaller, more efficient retail footprints.” The company is apparently eyeing a location at Yorkdale.
Related: The Bay’s art collection is being auctioned off
The Zellers name and logo, as well as the rights to its portrait studio and loyalty program, were acquired by the Benitah family, according to the Canadian Press. The Benitahs also run the Fairweather and International Clothiers brands, in addition to houseware brands Bombay and Bowring.
The family would not disclose what they paid for the rights, but court documents suggest it could have been just $100,000. (The trademarks had previously been owned by the Hudson’s Bay Company, which filed for creditor protection and closed its stores earlier this year.)
There’s one crucial, looming question: Who gets Zeddy in this ambitious retail reshuffle? The store’s lovable mascot will make a big comeback in 2026, with the launch of Zeddy’s World, where kids can buy a bear and dress him in custom looks.
This is just the news we needed after the Blue Jays tied the World Series last night—the team’s first World Series in 32 years. Let’s all be like Zellers and the Jays and never give up on the dream of a great Canadian rebrand.
Related: Please let Mark Carney continue to be right about the Blue Jays
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
