The end of Target’s Canadian operations is having a financial impact on businesses in Minnesota that supplied the retailer, CBSLocal.com reported today. Target’s Canadian division filed for bankruptcy protection last month and owes nearly $5 million to Minnesota suppliers and service providers, including Retail Merchandising Services. The Maple Grove company, which has stocked and maintained jewelry and sunglass displays at Target stores for decades, followed the retailer north of the border in 2011. “We hired and trained 200 employees across Canada,” said Phil Lamers, president of Retail Merchandising Services. “The hiring, the background checks, to do all that it was hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Retail Merchandising Services will continue to work with the retail giant in the U.S.