Wal-Mart targets Canada with $750M expansion

Wal-Mart Canada will spend $750 million to add 4.6 million square feet of retail space and 14,000 jobs in Canada this year, a release said Tuesday.

The world's largest retailer plans to complete 73 expansion or renovation projects across Canada this year, which would make it Wal-Mart's busiest year on record in this country.

The jobs estimate combines in-store positions plus construction jobs during store remodellings.

More than half of the planned projects will be to convert 39 former Zellers stores into Wal-Marts after the company bought leaseholds from the discount chain in June 2011.

Wal-Mart, which first set up shop in Canada in 1994, currently has 333 stores across the country and plans to have 375 by January 2013. The company currently employs 85,000 people.

The move is in part a response to the launch of Target stores in Canada. The U.S. discount chain is in the process of converting dozens of Zellers stores into Target locations to open over the spring and summer.