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Target Corp. is pulling out of Canada after racking up over US$2-billion operating losses in less than two years, a retreat sure to go down as the biggest failure of an American retailer in this country to date.

“Simply put, we were losing money every day,” chief executive Brian Cornell said in a corporate blog post Thursday explaining Target’s decision to close its 133 Canadian stores after determining it would take another six years to turn a profit.

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Clearly not enough Canadians felt compelled to shop at Target, but no doubt some of us will miss it.





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Shares of Wal-Mart’s biggest U.S. rival, which has seen its performance improve on its home turf of late, shot up as much as 8.7% in early trading. The move will lead to a US$5.4 billion writedown this quarter, as well as US$500 million to US$600 million in cash expenses. Still, the shutdown will lead to higher profit by next year, Target said.