Report: Target has sights set on Canada

New York City Target Corp. is laying the groundwork for expanding into Canada as representatives of the chain held meetings with developers at the International Council of Shopping Centres convention in Toronto, The Montreal Gazette reported.

According to the report, Target has its eye on opening up to 200 stores in Canada.

"We are exploring opportunities in Canada," said Amy Reilly, a Target spokeswoman, in the report. "We are optimistic that our first stores could open by mid-decade."  

Canadian retailers have been consistently outperforming their U.S. counterparts since the recession ended. TJX Cos. announced in July that it will open the first Canadian Marshalls stores in the spring of 2011.