Target Canada timeline

After initial fanfare and growth, losses mounted quickly

As early as 2004 there was speculation that Target, flush with cash from the sale of its department store chains, was interested in acquiring Canadian mass merchant retailer Zellers from its parent, Hudson's Bay Co.

January 2011: Target announces a $1.85 billion deal to acquire leasing interests in 220 Zellers stores. Target says it plans to open 100 to 150 stores in Canada over a two-year period starting in 2013 and that it would invest $1 billion on renovations and updates.

May 2011: Target Corp. in a trademark fight in Canada with Target Apparel, a 15-store division of Fairweather Ltd., over the Target name in Canada.

September 2011: Target selects final leases it will take over from Zellers Inc., a total of 189 locations. Target says it will spend $10 million to $11 million per store on remodeling in anticipation of re-openings in 2013. Each store expected to employ 150 to 200 people.

February 2012: Target reaches agreement with Fairweather Ltd. over naming issues in Canada.

March to December 2012: Zellers stores in Canada are shut down.

July 2012: Target spokeswoman says retailer will invest $3.5 billion in Canada and open 200 stores within 10 years.

March 5, 2013: Target opens three pilot stores in Canada.

March 18, 2013: Target opens 17 more stores in the province of Ontario.

May 2013: Target reports good store traffic, but bare shelves and pricing issues plague rollout.

October 2013: Target announces it will open 33 more stores in Canada during November, bringing total to 124.

December 2013: Target suffers data breach involving customer credit and debit cards.

March 2014: Target announces it expects to lose $941 million from Target Canada operations in its first year.

May 6, 2014: Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel resigns.

May 21, 2014: Target fires Tony Fisher as president of Target Canada, replacing him with Mark Schindele.

July 31, 2014: Target names former PepsiCo Americas Food executive Brian Cornell as its new CEO.

Aug. 12, 2014: Cornell's first day at Target Corp.

Aug. 14, 2014: Target lays out steps to turn around failing Canadian operations.

Jan. 15, 2015: Target announces exit from Canada market.