'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Canadian retail chain Zellers marked its official comeback on Thursday, opening a dozen stores in Ontario and Alberta and launching a new website.
The return of the discount department store comes amid a wave of nostalgia for the brand and growing demand for affordable goods as inflation pushes up the cost of living.
The company plans to open 25 locations across Canada within Hudson's Bay department stores, Hudson's Bay Co. spokeswoman Tiffany Bourre said.
The additional store openings will be phased in over time, and the retailer isn't ruling out the potential for stand-alone locations, she said.
The 10,000-square-foot Zellers stores feature an assortment of products, including clothing, toys and home and living items, under the company's in-house brand name Anko.
The private-label products are exclusive to Zellers within Canada, with no crossover between Hudson's Bay and Zellers stores, Bourre said.
Gillian Alleyne stopped into the Zellers at the Hudson's Bay at Scarborough Town Centre in Toronto during her lunch hour on Thursday.
"I work close to here and I came in to see the prices and the quality of the products," she said in an interview. "It looks a little more like a high-end Zellers compared to what I remember. It's appealing to the eye."
Although she went to Zellers to browse, Alleyne said the products looked "enticing" and made her want to open her wallet.
""It makes me want to spend a little more money than I expected," she said.
The products and displays look like a blend between Ikea and Walmart, Alleyne said.
"It looks nice but the prices are still reasonable," she said. "Bath mats are about $10. It's really affordable."
The company has also launched a Zellers e-commerce website.
All items both online and in-stores feature so-called rounded pricing, so for example $5 rather than $4.99 or $5.49.
It's about offering customers a "simplified and easy" shopping experience with reasonable prices for quality goods, Bourre said.
The relaunch of Zellers comes a decade after it closed most of its locations.
It also comes at a time when Canadians are seeking relief from the highest inflation in nearly 40 years, offering more competition in a discount market largely dominated by Walmart, Giant Tiger and Dollarama.
The resurrection of the retailer also taps into the nostalgia for the Zellers brand, evoking fond memories for some of meals at its diner and Zeddy, its teddy bear mascot.
While the footprint of the new Zellers stores -- within the existing Hudson's Bay department stores -- does not accommodate a restaurant, the company will have food trucks at some locations offering the top menu items.
The five menu items are the big "Z" burger, hot chicken sandwich, grilled cheese, chicken fingers and fries with gravy.
The chain's Zeddy mascot -- which arguably elicited some of the greatest sentimentality among some former shoppers -- is expected to make a return soon, Bourre said.
The mascot was adopted by a charity after Zellers wound down operations, she said.
"Zeddy has been in active service since Zellers closed," she said. "He's working hard in the background."
The store is hoping to bring Zeddy back into stores soon with a charity component, Bourre said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 23, 2023
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
The World Health Organization is likely to issue a wider warning about contaminated Johnson and Johnson-made children's cough syrup found in Nigeria last week, it said in an email.
Police have released video footage of a dramatic takedown of a group of teens wanted in connection with an attempted carjacking in Markham earlier this month.
Canada called for 'all parties' to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.