I’ve been fascinated by the demise of retail and brands. None has arrested my attention more than the collapse of Target in Canada.

It’s an iconic brand south of the border…

In the United States, Target is thriving. Many Canadians cross the border to shop at what’s colloquially known as tar-jhay. So when it was announced that Target was coming to Canada, many Canadians were rather excited.

And then they were heartbroken…

Target Canada was inefficient, broken and just plain boring. Target lasted 681 days in operation in Canada. The company abruptly closed all 133 stores, laid off 17,600 employees and reported a $5.4-billion (U.S) of pretax losses on discontinued operations in the fourth quarter of 2014. Plus, they owe tons of companies and consultants money.

The challenges of American companies expanding into the Canadian market is not unique to Target…

In the video below, I offer 3 things that set Canadian consumers apart from American consumers and how American companies can use these tips to build sales through their ad campaigns.

[easyembed field=”video”]

But that’s an aside to the real reason why I’m posting about Target almost a year after it left the Canadian market…

I stumbled upon a website called Abandoned Targets of Canada. It includes photos of every abandoned Target location in Canada. Although the site is complete (it has a photo of each of the 133 locations), I took a moment to snap my own photos of abandoned Targets close to where I live.

Vacant Target Canada Store #74, Cloverdale Mall, Etobicoke, ON

 Vacant Target Canada Store #75, Burlington Mall, Burlington, ON

Vacant Target Store #3, Erin Mills Town Centre, Mississauga, ON

Vacant Target Store #68, Westdale Mall, Mississauga, ON

Vacant Target Store #93 Square One, Mississauga, ON