On Jan. 15, Target announced to discontinue all stores in Canada. As a result, all 133 Target stores in Canada will be closed.

In a report from CBC News, Target started their operations in Canada in 2013 with a total of 220 stores. However, in their first year, Target lost around $1 billion.

With the closing of 133 Target stores, that means that almost 18,000 employees will be put out of work. CBC News reported that Target plans to set up a fund worth $70 million to give severance pay to all employees that have been laid off for up to 16 weeks.

USA Today reported that Target stores in Canada had many flaws that were leading to the company moving downward. In order to fix all of these flaws and to get the company moving in a better direction, it would take until at least 2021. With Target losing billions of dollars in the company every year, if it were to wait until 2021, it could be too late at that point to save the company.

USA Today also reported that a major flaw in the Canadian Target stores were the difference in pricing. Many Canadians had been to Target stores in the United States and were confused as to why the prices in Canada were considerably higher. If the Target stores in Canada had priced their products more competitively with U.S. prices, they would have had a better chance of gaining the support of Canadian consumers.

Molly Snyder, a spokeswoman for Target said that the Target operations in Canada were facing supply chain and logistics issues and that it could have been better if Target had waited longer to start operations in Canada.

In a report from USA Today, Target representatives said that geography was a major issue that affected the new stores. Throughout Canada there are different regions and the goals and wants of consumers can vary based on what region of Canada they are in.

Target has only just announced that they are planning to close all of their stores and discontinue all operations in Canada. Target is currently in the liquidation process, which will take until the summertime to be complete. In the meantime, all stores will remain open until May or June until the liquidation process is over and all Target operations in Canada come to an end.