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Zellers stores across Canada will disappear in a couple of years, as major U.S. retailer Target moves in.  
Target (NYSE:TGT) is spending $1.83 billion to buy up the leasehold interests in 220 Zellers stores from the storied Hudson's Bay Company.  
Though Target says the Zellers brand won't disappear immediately, the deal is the first step in a plan to open between 100 to 150 Target stores by 2013.  
The U.S. retailer, which helped coin the phrase ``discount chic,'' has long been exploring opportunities north of the border.  
However it hit several roadblocks that run the gamut from unattractive real estate locations for potential stores to the economic slowdown that reined in consumer spending.  
Target says that under the agreement Zellers will continue to lease the locations from Target and run them as Zellers stores ``for a period of time.''