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Public Mobile expands distribution, wiggles its way into 29 Zellers stores
Is Public Mobile the little wireless underdog that could? The carrier only operates in Toronto and Montreal but they continually seem to advance in many ways. Most notably is their handset lineup, recently launching a couple low end, low cost Android devices, bringing email capabilities to their unlimited offering and adding various roaming options. All these changes happened throughout 2011, along with expanding their distribution. They recently entered into Walmart and now have found a spot in 29 Zellers stores in GTA, and Montreal.
No word on what Public has planned for 2012 – rumours of a possible buyout are circling – but they will be adding to their growing subscriber base, which is now above the 153,000 mark.
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21 comments for “Public Mobile expands distribution, wiggles its way into 29 Zellers stores”
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Too bad their handset lineup is still atrocious, compared to Wind and Mobilicity.
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Good for them. They are going in the right direction. I really hope all the new companies grow. BTW Zellers is changing its name to Target in a few weeks / months.
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It’s in 2013 actually, so over a year.
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I am wrong then. I got lied to from the store manager at the Zellers near me.
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@dimitri K Zellers is not changing their name to Target. Its Target that bought over all the zellers thus the name change. And yes its sometime in 2012.
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@ claude. They are changing their names to Target in 2013. Look it up on Google.
“On January 13, 2011 it was announced that Target Corporation of the United States will purchase the lease agreements of up to 220 Zellers stores for C$1.825 billion.[6] Under the agreement, Zellers will initially sublease the properties, and continue to operate them as Zellers locations until at least January 2012, and at latest the end of March 2013.[7] After the Zellers stores at these locations close, Target will renovate 100 to 150 of them, and reopen them under the Target banner during 2013 and 2014, with the remaining acquired sites to be transferred to other retailers.”
That is from Wikipedia & other sites..
Is there a site or anything you can prove they are not changing the names?
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Zellers is not changing it’s name to Target. Target purchased the leasing rights to Zellers locations from HBC, and will be converting many of them to Target locations. The very information you posted from Wikipedia confirms that.
The only thing that Target takes on is the leases. Nothing else gets transferred – not the distribution agreements, not the employees (though I hear they’ll get an opportunity to apply for jobs with Target before the general population), not any left-over merchandise.
This is not a simple name change or re-branding. This is one store closing, and another opening in the same location.
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Right next to the toys, as PM is a joke.
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What a genius idea! Go sell your phones at a store that [1] got rid of Solo last summer before other retailers did so, [2] still has unsold yet dinosaur Koodo at a few stores that forgot to ship them back and [3] struggled to properly display and sell Mobilicity phones, similarly to what happened with Solo and Koodo.
Not to mention, Zellers will go on a clearance sale on or after April’s Fool in 2012. Think of Blockbuster. Prices will be either ridiculously low or inflated. That will give Public only three months of selling feature phones at regular, non-liquidation prices.
It’s great that Public is leaving no stone unturned and taking every opportunity. The stores in Toronto seem to do a better job than others in terms of advertising Public Mobile and Mobilicity. i’ve purchased two prepaid phones at Zellers, but only due to the low prices, not because Zellers is a good retailer for this.
However, Zellers has a terrible electronics department, still carrying Game Boy Advance games while prohibiting price matches and almost all coupons. Like i said, maybe other stores like those in Toronto and Montreal are better. i expect a better electronics department, however, which Target should surely roll out.
[1] enwp.org/Solo_Mobile#Discontinuation_(2011-present)
[2] enwp.org/Koodo#Former_retailers
[3] enwp.org/Mobilicity#Products
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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who cares if they sale a lot, in my view this was more to put pressure on Mobi as Public is looking to buy them
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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“Public has planned for 2012″
From downtown Toronto to the WHOLE city of Toronto. way to go Public Moron.
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I think PM is a respectable company in terms of the budget market they are catering to, but this how it went down: I had two phones. Main one with the big 3, and a second with PM for unlimited talk. I ported my big 3 number to WIND yesterday on their amazing Holiday Miracle Plan, and cancelled with PM. They did nothing at all wrong during the 7+ months I was with them, but they don’t have the network, the technology, or the stability to compete beyond the “extremely budget-minded” consumer.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Good for them. I love real competition. Not the government protected horse crap illusion of competion by Rogers and Bell.
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I ported my home phone a few months ago to pay 15.00 a month cheaper then bell land line but cant make or receive a call with out dropped calls.I think because i live at the end of toronto like on Steeles the signal is week there. I use mainly my rogers phone never have dropped calls so you get what you pay for.Soon or later Ill change.
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@Dimitri K., they are not changing the name. Targe is a completely different company. Zellers will NO LONGER exist. Target bought all the leases for the Zellers store. Zeller employees at HBC are all out of work by the end of 2012/early 2013. They have been given a very nice severance package to stay until the end. This is not a name change. Was the Woolco to Walmart a name change? No, it was one company buying the other companies lease. That is what this is. If PM wants to stay in those location, they will need to make a new deal with Target.
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$12 Million Lotto 649. Looks like I need to buy a ticket.
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PUBLIC MOBILE IS THE BEST PHONE COMPANY EVER!
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YES THEY ARE THE BEST. THEY ARE INEXPENSIVE AND THEIR SERVICE WORKS GREAT! I GOT MINE FROM CLOVERDALE MALL AND THE EMPLOYEES THERE ARE SO NICE!
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