Not long after becoming your mayor I received a tough phone call telling me that approximately 170 people were about to be laid off due to Target Canada closing. I felt so bad for those suddenly without work.

Yet not too long after, a different call came into the Mayors office telling me that Walmart was successful in acquiring many of the old stores and that the Guelph location was going to be one of them!
I remember asking them at the time if they had plans to try and reach out to many of the Target employees to give them a shot at the new store and they indicated that they would.

So, over the past many months Walmart has been working away with over 150 trades people renovating the Stone Road store to a new Walmart concept store, a first in Canada I’ve been told.

Our city staff worked alongside all stakeholders involved to make today’s opening a reality – and on time! A big thanks goes out to staff!
I was amazed at the new store today. So many happy employees thrilled to have jobs and many from the old Target store that have been re-hired. There’s 165 jobs to be exact.

The new layout has wider aisles and lower racking which makes the store a bit more of a human scale and not that feeling of being  crowded. They’ve used LED lights throughout too. It’s bright and has what you’d expect in a Walmart store with pretty much everything under one roof.
I was pleased to bring greetings on behalf of the city to them today before cutting the ribbon:
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All the very best and congrats again!

Cam