Target Canada Fails Yet Again, Even Liquidation Sales Were A Major Fail
From the day it opened up to its looming closure, Target Canada has failed again the expectations of Canadian consumers. On the opening day of its liquidation sales, the retailer still failed to perk up the appetites of even the savviest bargain hunter in the land.
As early as 7:30 a.m. ET and despite the frigid cold outside the East York Target location, shoppers eager for big discounts lined up and patiently waited for the store’s doors to open. But whatever excitement Target Canada built for liquidation sales day, it failed to support it properly. On Wednesday, Target announced customers could expect as much as 30 percent discounts on various merchandise.
Shoppers tweeted the shelves were stocked. But they were disappointed. The bargains they saw were just mostly in the 10 percent to 20 percent range.
mostly 10% off? can @TargetCanada not even get a liquidation sale right? good riddance.
- p.law (@PatrickMichel) February 5, 2015So this Target Canada liquidation sale is only "up to 30% off", with most things 10-15% off? That's not a liquidation sale, that's *a store*
- Matt English (@matttomic) February 5, 2015I've never seen the shelves so stocked. But disappointing sales so far. Just 10% off most items. #targetliquidation
- Franny Karlinsky (@FrannyKarlinsky) February 5, 2015“It says up to 30 percent off but there’s like nothing for sale over 10 [percent],” Global News quoted Amy Kontarakis. Her cart was filled with Pampers, a pair of women’s jeans, detergent and other household items. Worse, she said she’ll return the diapers to the shelves. Even at 10 percent off, she said the diapers still cost $30, well expensive than the $22 she got for the same product at Shoppers Drug Mart weeks earlier.
Carm Tatulli checked out the video game entertainment section of the Target store in northeast Toronto and was miffed. An avid video gamer, he checked out the action adventure game Watch Dogs for the PlayStation 4 console. It was marked down by 10 percent, but the original price was $44.99. “You can get that at Walmart or EB Games for $29.99,” Tatulli said.
But the most worrying among the liquidation sales hype is how Target Canada workers are being treated in the last days before their looming unemployment. A staff interviewed by CBC News revealed management has resorted to more stringent rules, despite not extending them severance packages when the retailed finally closes shop. Sarah, not her real name, said she had been reprimanded by her manager and strongly told not to go to the media or risk termination. She said the morale of the workers has gone low. It “is horrible, absolutely horrible. Everybody's angry.”
She shared management has launched a crackdown because too many workers have been not reporting on their jobs. "If we call in sick two days in a row we have to have a doctor's note. And if it becomes a pattern, we will be terminated."
