Target isn't open yet and it's already doing business in Sudbury.

The department store is handing out 300 free Christmas trees at Bell Park on Saturday.

A professor in the School of Business at Cambrian College said this marketing strategy is used by businesses trying to integrate into a new community.

“Well the first thing they want to do is they want to belong and it builds community,” Brian Vendramin said.

“I think there's lots of buzz of [Target] coming into the Canadian market, and specifically to Sudbury.”

Nothing 'to be afraid of'

New businesses to the city are welcome to foster these new marketing strategies, said Greater Sudbury Chamber of Commerce president Debbi Nicholson.

"I don't think competition is anything that people need to be afraid of,” she said.

“I think it forces other businesses to up their game and to provide a high level of customer service and a way to make them stand out."

This isn't the first time a company has used the holiday season to market itself in Sudbury.

Three years ago Lowes sent out more than 200 poinsettia plants to residents before it officially opened for business.

Target is slated to open in the fall of next year.

It will be located in New Sudbury across from the shopping centre.