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Walmart Canada Corp. is the Canadian division of Walmart which is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario. It was founded on March 17, 1994 with the purchase of the Woolco Canada chain from the F. W. Woolworth Company. Originally consisting of discount stores, Walmart Canada's contemporaries include Zellers (before most of its leases were taken over by Target Corporation) and then Target Canada from 2013–2015, Hart Stores, and Giant Tiger. It also competes in many areas with Canadian Tire and Sears Canada. Walmart Canada's six Sam's Club stores (2006-2009, only in Ontario) competed with warehouse club Costco and hypermarket Real Canadian Superstore. Based on the success of the US format, Walmart Canada has focused on expanding Supercentres from new or converted locations, offering groceries which puts them in the same market as supermarket chains such as Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, Metro, Sobeys, Thrifty Foods, Safeway, Save-On-Foods, Country Grocer, Fairway Markets, Quality Foods, Co-op and others. Walmart has 395 stores in Canada, including 288 Supercentres and 107 discount stores. ==History== Walmart Canada was established in 1994 through the acquisition by Walmart Stores Inc. of 122 Canadian leases of Woolco, a troubled subsidiary of Woolworth Canada.〔(Walmart Canada signs deal with Target Canada for 39 Zellers locations )〕〔(Plus grande offensive de Wal-Mart au Canada en 13 ans )〕 The same year, these Woolco stores were renovated and converted into the Walmart banner.〔 Wal-Mart did not acquire 22 other Woolco stores that were either unionized or had downtown locations. Some former Woolco stores were sold and re-opened as Zellers stores.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=no-union-please-were-wal-mart )〕 All 16,000 former employees of the Woolco stores that Walmart acquired were retained, retrained, and given a five percent raise. Mario Pilozzi, a senior vice-president at Woolco when the deal was signed, eventually became CEO of Walmart Canada. Pilozzi, who retired in 2008, has proclaimed that he and "his management team took a limping chain and turned it into the Wal-Mart powerhouse that became a game-changer on the Canadian business scene. Retailers changed, Canadian manufactures faced demands and volumes they had not seen before, real estate transitioned from enclosed malls to big-box plazas".〔()〕 Reflecting on the 1994 deal in 2013, a Walmart Canada spokesman was quoted as saying "Even though Woolco had seen better days and was struggling, there was still an enormous amount of talent in that company. I think that is one of the reasons Walmart has succeeded in Canada, is because we started with a fantastic team that we re-motivated”.〔( Zellers employees walk away empty-handed in $1.825-billion deal Zellers employees walk away empty-handed in $1.825-billion deal ).〕 Beginning in the fall of 2006, Walmart opened new Supercentres in Canadian cities.〔(Walmart Canada bets big on supercenters )〕 Walmart Canada also operated Sam's Club stores in Ontario from 2006 to 2009.〔(Wal-Mart Canada closing all 6 Sam's Club locations )〕 On February 26, 2009, they announced that it would close all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations. This was part of Walmart Canada's decision to shift focus towards Supercenter stores, but some industry observers suggested that the operation was struggling to compete with Costco and the non-membership The Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in Quebec). Sam's Club also rebranded two unopened locations as new Walmart Superstores. From originally taking over much of the Woolco chain, Walmart Canada has expanded and opened new stores. It had grown to 260 stores by 2005, making it Canada's second-largest retail chain.〔Bianco, Anthony. "(No Union Please, We're Walmart )." ''Business Week.'' February 13, 2006. Retrieved on July 26, 2006.〕 In 2011, Walmart Canada acquired the leases of 39 Zellers stores from Target, originally one of the 189 leaseholds purchased from Hudson's Bay Company and slated for conversion to Target Canada stores. Walmart Canada managed to convert and reopen some of the former Zellers stores before Target Canada's launch. Unlike Walmart's 1994 move into Canada, Walmart Canada this time did not guarantee the jobs of the employees whose stores they were acquiring.〔 Walmart Canada launched the "Urban 90" format in 2012, a set of smaller Supercentres averaging 90,000 square feet.〔(Walmart goes small with “Urban 90″ Supercentre )〕 In addition to the 11 Walmart Supercentres that opened across Canada in January 2015, Walmart Canada plans to complete another 29 Supercentre projects by the end of this year. On May 8, 2015, following the bankruptcy of Target Canada, Walmart Canada announced its intent to acquire the properties of thirteen former Target locations, along with its distribution centre in Cornwall, Ontario, subject to court approval. These locations include an unopened location at the Bayshore Shopping Centre in Ottawa. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walmart Canada」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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