Next Is A Haiku About Canadian Tire

If there is one thing I hate it is seeing something I love come to an end. I’m pretty sure I can trace it back to the 1988 Winter Olympics when I cried uncontrollably following the Closing Ceremonies. Still today I have to bite my lip as the flame is being extinguished in all subsequent Olympics, either summer or winter.

So when it was announced that Target would be buying out its Canadian equivalent, Zellers, I was pretty indifferent to the whole idea. That is until I realized that they would be closing all of the Zellers stores to make room for bright, shiny, new Target stores. Soon it was only a matter of time before hanging on the front of our store was a large yellow banner announcing, “Store Closing”, as if it were exciting news. To pour salt in our wounds it turns out that we aren’t receiving a bright, shiny, new Target store… at least not right now.

If you’ve been to a Zellers I am sure you are wondering why I am waxing poetic about this strange Canadian store. I grew up in a town with one mall, or “mall” as it should probably be referred to. The Cassils Centre Mall had a grocery store at one end and a Zellers at the other. The center of the mall was dotted with the local pet store, music store (which I saw move from records to tapes to CDs) and a dollar store. Our food court consisted of a Dairy Queen and a restaurant that I never ate at, in fact I never saw anyone really eat there, just drink coffee.

My brother and I use to peruse the toy section of Zellers every chance we could get and my parents bought me a pink ‘Princess Power’ bike there. As we got older my friends and I use to ride our bikes to the mall to shop the fashions at Zellers and Zellers is where I discovered my love for makeup. In fact I even once threw up in Zellers.

Zellers taught me that 'The Lowest Price is the Law' and I am sure no one in my family,at least, will forget Teddy Grahams, even if they are the reason Eric's first 'Doggie' died.

I long ago moved away from the Cassils Centre Mall, but even walking into our local Zellers I had these memories flood back. Perhaps Target is a thing of wonder, full of rainbows, butterflies and all happiness but for right now I'm just sad to see my old friend go. Zellers tried hard, but it proved to just be no match for Walmart and now Target.

Goodbye Zellers. Thanks for all the great memories.