Four Target stores confirmed for Edmonton

Shopping baskets are stacked at a Chicago area Target store Wednesday, May 20, 2009. (AP / Charles Rex Arbogast)

Four Target stores will be open in Edmonton by winter 2013, the company confirmed Thursday.

Stores will open in Bonnie Doon Shopping Centre, Mill Woods Town Centre, and West Edmonton Mall in spring of 2013 while a fourth store at Kingsway Garden Mall will open by winter that year.

Stores will also open at Sherwood Park Mall and St. Albert Centre in the spring.

A total of 15 stores will open across Alberta.

Thursday’s announcement confirms the first 125 stores that will open across Canada in 2013. The company will confirm later this year additional locations that will open starting in 2014.

The company will be converting Zellers sites into new Target stores.

“Construction has already begun on our first set of stores and we are excited to the see the transformation as the Target brand comes to life in Canada,” Tony Fisher, president of Target Canada, said in a news release.

"We have stores spanning from coast-to-coast and we can't wait to open our doors in Canada and deliver on our Expect More. Pay Less. brand promise."

Each Zellers site being converted will be closed for a period of six to nine months for renovations. The company estimates more than $10 million will be spent remodeling each location.

The company received final federal government approval last week to replace Zellers stores in the country on the condition that the stores sell Canadian "cultural products" including Canadian magazines, books, music, and DVDs. The company is also required to support Canadian cultural events and organizations.

The approval, granted under the Investment Canada Act, requires Target to invest $3.5 billion in its Canadian stores, including hiring as many as 25,000 staff by 2015.

Target says 150 to 200 people will be employed at each store.

This is not the first time Canada's Heritage Minister has ordered an Investment Canada Act review of a U.S. retailing giant’s plans to move into Canada.

When online book seller Amazon set up a "fulfilment centre" warehouse in Canada in 2010, it too had to promise to create jobs for Canadians and support local cultural events.

With files from CTVNews.ca