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BRAMPTON, ONTARIO - Zellers has unveiled a new format in a move intended to bring its smallest stores in line with the operational advancements it has made in the rest of the chain. On Aug. 12, the company launched its Zellers Select format in 23 stores. On the same day, the company also opened three new fullsized stores and four expanded units.
Zellers Select was a format developed to update the chain's 350 smaller stores, those ranging in size from 20,000 to 50,000 sq. ft. The smaller stores simply couldn't accommodate all the changes that Zellers was introducing into its full-size locations. For awhile, they were being run as Best Value off price stores, but management determined that the Zellers core cus tourer-always referred to simply as "mom"-would be better satisfied with the essence of what she had come to expect from the chain. And essence is what Zellers is giving them, said Nick Padovano, vp of operations and instore marketing. "It's stocked with our best-selling skus, the A and B volume goods," he said. "We wanted to give our customers the core, everyday categories."
The format actually includes two prototypes. One is designed for stores in the 35,000-sq.-ft. range and one for stores of 24,000. sq. ft. or less, although the smaller prototype can be subject to significant modification for the...