Target (TGT) is saying goodbye to the Great White North.

The Minneapolis-based retailer is closing all its 133 stores in Canada.

CEO Brian Cornell says he’s making the move because Target’s Canadian operations won’t be able to make a profit until 2021.

Yahoo Senior Columnist Michael Santoli calls it a big move by Cornell, who just took over the company last summer.

“It’s a new CEO,” Santoli says. “He’s only been there a few months and basically said we could not find a way financially to make it work.”

In a statement, Cornell said that when he took over at Target, he promised to take a hard look at the company’s business and operations. Santoli believes investors will give him a thumbs up for taking this step.

“The market is going to like this move,” he says. “Wall Street likes to see an executive say let’s not throw bad money after good just because we’re in a place.”

Cornell adds that while the decision was hard for him personally, it was the right one for the company.

Target has struggled to gain traction in Canada. It moved into the country in 2011 when it bought Hudson Bay Company’s (HBC.TO) Zellers store chain. Target says it will take a $5.4 billion dollar charge in 2014 to pay for shutting down operations.

“It seems like they realized that this was a bit of a flawed expansion maneuver,” Santoli notes. “And they’re undoing it now.”

Some 17,600 employees will be affected.

Along with the Canada news, Target is also announcing that it is boosting its forecast for holiday sales thanks to increased traffic and better-than-expected digital sales.  Target now expects fourth quarter sales to be up 3%.  It had initially predicted a gain of 2%.