Canadian Retail Thread

[casper]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Maybe is the ownership was Canadian rather than Brazilian there would be more pride.

Maybe if they still made their donuts daily on site with a guarantee of freshness there would be more pride.

Maybe if they had a stable wholesome menu limited to soups, chile and sandwiches rather than always chasing something new there would be more pride.

Tim Horton's is a shell of it's former self. I virtually never go there any more. Not even if I am looking for a coffee on a road trip.

I am ok with the menu. I was in there yesterday morning (for the first time in months).

What I don't like is their "always fresh" strategy. Always Fresh all day basically means removing it from the freezer and baking it a special microwave/convection oven contraption multiple times during the day.

They lost me as a regular customer when they stopped actually baking in store.

[jamincan]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Tim Horton's is a shell of it's former self. I virtually never go there any more. Not even if I am looking for a coffee on a road trip.

It's interesting to me that while Tim Horton's seems to have been rather aimless, Popeye's seem to be experiencing a resurgence (not without reason either). I suppose if RBI throws enough darts at a board, they're bound to hit the bullseye once.

Tim Horton's seem to suffer from market researchers controlling their menus: "last month, focus groups reacted very positively to Nutella ergo let me barf out Nutella all over our menu; this month we had a huge Justin Bieber fan in our focus group, so now we're going to pivot our brand to be all things Bieber; men from 25-34 showed a 2 point increase in their reported enjoyment of disgusting fake hazelnut chemical syrup, so lets massively promote that."

[Denscity]

Tims is most famous for coffee and donuts but both are terrible. Like Bud to beer.
But don't mind their breakfast offerings.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by jamincan

Tim Horton's seem to suffer from market researchers controlling their menus: "last month, focus groups reacted very positively to Nutella ergo let me barf out Nutella all over our menu; this month we had a huge Justin Bieber fan in our focus group, so now we're going to pivot our brand to be all things Bieber; men from 25-34 showed a 2 point increase in their reported enjoyment of disgusting fake hazelnut chemical syrup, so lets massively promote that."

Much truth in this.

I would much prefer a more stable predictable menu selection. Timmies should concentrate on a good quality selection of breakfast and lunch options and high quality donuts and pastries. I do not need or want the "new item of the week"

I have heard as well, that the constant changing of menu items has led to worker stress since they are constantly being retrained in how to prepare the items. Some of them can't cope and quit.

Most fast food places (McDonald's, Burger King) have a predictable menu. Sure, they occasionally bring in a novelty specialty burger to draw in customers and create some excitement, but this is not at the expense of their regular menu, and does not result in ongoing chaos for their workers.

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by esquire

In Man/Sask, Starbucks doesn't really exist outside of the larger centres. Once you get outside Winnipeg/Regina/Saskatoon, Starbucks locations are pretty rare. I've seen standalone locations in Brandon and Swift Current, and maybe a couple in other places attached to supermarkets. Nowhere near as common in the smaller locales as Tim Hortons even though neither chain has had a significant presence here all that long (mid 90s for Tims, late 90s for Starbucks).

Is Starbucks inside Safeway stores a standard feature nowadays? I don’t shop in Safeways other than my local store, which has one, and is in a small city-burb of Calgary, so I can’t speak to other locations. Wondering if Safeways in Sask and Man have them?

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

There was a local Coffee Time on every corner in Toronto. It's probably a major reason why Tim Hortons didn't start an aggressive push into the city until the 2000s. Before that was kiosks in gas and grocery stores. Coffee Time must have closed over 300 locations since.

I went to a Coffee Time in Kitchener in 2007. Their “Iced Cappuccino” was terrible compared to both Tim Hortons and the independent coffee shop in London I worked for at the time. It was mostly ice cubes.

I remember Robin’s Donuts suddenly re-appeared in Scarborough one day in 2017, on Ellesmere Road. No idea if that has lasted.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by zahav

I never saw a Thai Express anywhere but in a food court until I was in Nova Scotia and there was a standalone one at a gas station on the highway. I was definitely surprised, but then looked it up when I got home and saw it wasn't as rare as I thought. Out in BC you don't see it at truck stops.

The late entry of Tim's in BC is true, up until 2000 there were no Tim's in Richmond BC at all, which was a decent size city in Metro Van. But after 2000 the explosion started and we experienced what it was like in other parts of the country. But until 2000 it was still quite rare. We were major Starbucks territory due to the culture and proximity to Seattle. In the 90s, Tim Hortons didn't factor into our culture here whatsoever, it was 100% Sbux. Is Sbux equal to Tim's in most places in Canada, or is Tim's bigger in smaller centres?

In Ontario, Starbucks is rare to see in smaller centres, though they’ve added towns like Strathroy in recent years. Tim Hortons is far more common in Ontario, particularly in smaller communities; some of the smaller communities near London have Tim Hortons as their only coffee shop. Even in suburban areas of London, Tim Hortons is the only coffee shop in the neighbourhood, particularly Lambeth and Byron.

Now that I’ve lived in BC for several years, it’s a cultural shock to see the dominance of Tim Hortons every time I’m back in the London area.

[casper]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

Is Starbucks inside Safeway stores a standard feature nowadays? I don’t shop in Safeways other than my local store, which has one, and is in a small city-burb of Calgary, so I can’t speak to other locations. Wondering if Safeways in Sask and Man have them?

That was a partnership that was created long before Sobey's purchased Safeway. Many of the Safeway stores in Vancouver have the Starbucks.

On Vancouver Island, the competition people blocked Safeway going to Sobeys due to the high concentration of Thrifty Foods. So many of Safeway stores on the Island were sold to Save-On-Foods. Those Safeway's retained the Starbucks counter even after going to Save On.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by YYCguys

Is Starbucks inside Safeway stores a standard feature nowadays? I don’t shop in Safeways other than my local store, which has one, and is in a small city-burb of Calgary, so I can’t speak to other locations. Wondering if Safeways in Sask and Man have them?

It was pretty common in MB/SK at one point, but I guess a lot of the in-store Starbucks weren't doing that well because the number has been dramatically scaled back in recent years. At least in Winnipeg. There are still some left but not as many as before. Not 100% sure but I think some other chains may have them too, like Save-On?

Like I said, some (but not all) smaller cities have their only Starbucks locations in Safeway/Sobeys locations.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by jamincan

this month we had a huge Justin Bieber fan in our focus group, so now we're going to pivot our brand to be all things Bieber; men from 25-34 showed a 2 point increase in their reported enjoyment of disgusting fake hazelnut chemical syrup, so lets massively promote that."

I was in California recently, and saw a kid wearing a Tim Biebs hat on an Amtrak train south of San Jose. It was a very random thing to see.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by casper

That was a partnership that was created long before Sobey's purchased Safeway. Many of the Safeway stores in Vancouver have the Starbucks.

On Vancouver Island, the competition people blocked Safeway going to Sobeys due to the high concentration of Thrifty Foods. So many of Safeway stores on the Island were sold to Save-On-Foods. Those Safeway's retained the Starbucks counter even after going to Save On.

This also happened in New Westminster. There used to be a Safeway at Royal City Centre, but Save-on-Foods took it over maybe 8-10 years ago. There is still a Starbucks kiosk inside.

Prior to about 2014, Safeway/Sobeys had a near-monopoly in New West - there were three Safeways, a Thrifty Foods, and an IGA (which is not owned by Sobeys in BC, at least nowadays). One of the Safeways, the IGA, and the Thrifty Foods all became Save-on-Foods. To this day we have no Loblaws-owned store, not counting Shoppers Drug Mart.

[niwell]

Most of Tim's marketing campaigns seem like flops but I would say they did nail it with the TimBiebs thing. Regardless of your thoughts on Bieber it seemed extremely popular and I did hear people talk about it / see lots of branded stuff around. I even tried them, which was the first time I'd been in a Tim Horton's in some time (though to be fair it was while driving).

[Denscity]

Our one Safeway has our one Starbucks inside of it.

[MonctonRad]

They seem to be rolling out Starbucks in Superstores (Loblaws) here in NB.

[JonHiseler]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They seem to be rolling out Starbucks in Superstores (Loblaws) here in NB.

They started putting them in the ones in Halifax last year, and now are starting to put them in ones outside of the HRM. At the same time, they did close some of their other locations, like the one on Barrington and the one on Quinpool, as well as no longer being in Chapters stores.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

They're really going to have to drastically improve their quality if they have any hope of succeeding in BC. A&W is a lot more dominant here than in Ontario, and Triple O's/White Spot needs no introduction. If they're still relying on cold, overcooked, and dried out burgers as part of their strategy, they won't be in BC for very long.

If they can bring back the Harvey's of the 90s and 2000s, then they'll have a hope.

I had never heard of Triple O's until a couple weeks ago. I saw one opened up around here with a new gas station. Thought maybe it was a US brand I hadn't heard of so I did a little Google search and found out it's Canadian!

[esquire]

I didn't know White Spot/Triple O's had made it to Ontario. Farthest east I'd seen them before was Edmonton.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Our one Safeway has our one Starbucks inside of it.

Y'all getting world class now.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by niwell

Most of Tim's marketing campaigns seem like flops but I would say they did nail it with the TimBiebs thing. Regardless of your thoughts on Bieber it seemed extremely popular and I did hear people talk about it / see lots of branded stuff around. I even tried them, which was the first time I'd been in a Tim Horton's in some time (though to be fair it was while driving).

TimBiebs was one of, if not their best, marketing campaigns ever, IIRC.

Originally Posted by esquire

I didn't know White Spot/Triple O's had made it to Ontario. Farthest east I'd seen them before was Edmonton.

Found one in Colborne of all places. It was fine.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Found one in Colborne of all places. It was fine.

That's the one that I saw.

I believe the only other chain in Colborne is a Tim Hortons.