‘Sprinkle of nostalgia’ as Zellers set to make return to St. Catharines

Zellers is making its return to St. Catharines, and while the lowest price may no longer be the law, the reopening of a brick-and-mortar store is bringing a sense of nostalgia and excitement back to Niagara.

The revived discount chain may also no longer be what it was –– with Zeddy bears, french fries and gravy, and Mossimo pants –– but reality is doing little to dampen spirits.

At least not Jacob Bergsma’s spirit.

“It’s this company that’s super aligned with Canadiana … you walk into Zellers and it’s red and white and there’s Canadian flags everywhere,” said Bergsma, lead singer of Niagara-based band My Son the Hurricane.

“To see it come back is exciting. I know, of course, it’s still owned by a corporate giant but it almost makes it seem like old-world department stores are coming back — and that’s cool.”

As a teenager, Bergsma’s first job was at Zellers at The Pen Centre. He remembers the talk about shutting down the retailer.

“I didn’t work right up until the end, but I got pretty darn close. So there was always this sort of doom and gloom between those four walls, and seeing it coming back — and I’m not alone in this — is just super exciting,” he said.

On Wednesday, nearly a decade after closing its doors, the retailer announced its return will start with 25 planned locations across the country, including at St. Catharines’ Pen Centre.

A media release said “store experiences” will be housed within Zellers signature red and white, and will feature a selection of products across home decor, toys, baby items, apparel and pets.

The locations will open within Hudson’s Bay stores, and are expected to be between 740 and 930 square metres in size.

All stores will open simultaneously this spring, alongside the first-ever Zellers e-commerce site, zellers.ca.

Both The Pen Centre and HBC were unable to provide additional details about the local store. The mall said it is still having preliminary discussions with Hudson’s Bay Co.

Zellers was founded in 1931 and acquired by HBC in 1978. At its peak, the discount retail store had 350 locations, including a spot at The Pen Centre.

Bergsma last August at the Peterborough Folks Festival wore a Zellers smock to commemorate the announcement the Canadian company would be returning.

Earlier this month, he began posting videos on social media, sharing his experiences working at Zellers –– the good, the bad and the fun.

Including escalator adventures.

“That was always a point of entertainment. We had both an intercom system and the escalators so we were a popular spot for badass teenagers. We’d see kids slide down the escalator and get hurt and then we’d have to both school them and see if maybe we could help them,” recalled Bergsma.

As Zellers is rebranded and relaunched, he said it has been nice, alongside the “sprinkle of nostalgia,” to share “true stories about working in retail in the early 2000s.”

His online posts grabbed the attention of Hudson’s Bay, which retweeted Bergsma’s stories on Twitter.

“I have no association with Zellers. It’s just something I’m doing because that business and that time in my life was such a significant and informative time in my life that I feel the need to share it,” he said.

“I’m speaking to a very niche demographic there, but their reactions have all been very good.”

Michelle Wasylyshen, national spokesperson for Retail Council of Canada, said it is “always exciting” to see a well-recognized brand from the past return.

“Retail is one of the most interesting, dynamic and competitive industries in Canada and so we expect to see additional retail banners enter, or re-establish themselves, within the Canadian market,” she said.

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