Target closing all stores across Canada; including four across the region

Shoppers enter a Target store in Toronto on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. (Colin Perkel / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Target says it will close its stores in Canada - a market that it entered only two years ago.

The U.S.-based retail company has 133 Canadian locations and 17,600 employees across the country.

Four stores in our region will also be affected: Newmarket, Orillia, Aurora and Barrie. But unlike the others which moved in to existing retail space, the Barrie store was built at Park Place and opened just six months ago. The news came as a shock to the manager of Park Place.

“Disappointed, it’s a beautiful store, everybody loves this store. It was running as one of their top stories in Canada, no problem with the store but it’s a corporate decision,” says Terry Coughlin.

Brian Cornell, who became the U.S. company's chairman and chief executive last year, said that despite working "tirelessly" to fix the problems that weighed down its sales, Target did not see the "required step-change" in its performance over the holiday period to convince the discount retailer to stay in Canada.

"After a thorough review of our Canadian performance and careful consideration of the implications of all options, we were unable to find a realistic scenario that would get Target Canada to profitability until at least 2021," Cornell said in a statement.

Barrie’s Mayor Jeff Lehman says anything that involves job loss is disappointing.

“I would never say that 100 jobs is small, that’s a big hit. My concern is that hopefully the company takes care of its employees.”

Target has received court approval to make cash contributions of $70 million into an employee trust so that employees would get at least 16 weeks of compensation.

As for employees in Barrie, several new stores are opening in the same shopping area which means opportunities for some to simply move across the parking lot.

“Plus somebody will back filling that space at some point in the not too distant future,” adds Coughlin.

Molly Snyder with Target Canada told CTV News on Thursday afternoon via email that it is not known when each store will close, but it will vary by store. But all stores will likely be closed within 16-20 weeks.