Zellers County Fair, Yorkton, Saskatchewan, opened in 1968 in the West Broadway Mall at #454 Broadway Street West. In 1978, the business became a subsidiary of聽 the Hudson鈥檚 Bay Company. Ten years later, the store moved to the Parkland Mall, closing its doors for good in 2012.
Zellers聽 was founded by Canadian businessman Walter P. Zeller. He was born in 1890聽 in Kitchener, Ontario, and in 1912, he worked for F.W. Woolworth Company. In 1914, he moved to the United States, working for Kresge Company and Metropolitan Stores. He returned to Ontario in 1928 and started a chain of stores which he sold. He then founded Zellers Company in 1931 and made it a Canada-wide business. 聽
Cindy Gottschall of Yorkton remembers shopping at Zellers often over the years: 鈥漁ne of my favorite memories is around age 12 catching the Yorkton city bus on Saturdays, which was allowance day, and heading to the vinyl record bin at Zellers to choose a 45 for 18 cents! I can also remember the amazing smell of French fries with vinegar from the store鈥檚 Skillet Restaurant. Also, their slogan was 鈥淭he lowest price is the law鈥� and the store was amazing at honoring this if you provided a flyer with a lower price from any other store.鈥�
Photo: courtesy of the Hudson鈥檚 Bay Co. Archives in Winnipeg, Man.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
[email protected]
