Canadian Retail Thread

[esquire]

Interesting sidenote about truck stops: There has been an absolute boom in the number of Indo-Canadian truck drivers, at least in Western Canada, over the last 20 years or so. (It is a path to immigration.)

What this has meant is a corresponding boom in truck stops serving various types of Indian cuisine along the major highways. I really noticed it when driving to Banff last summer... you'd see a billboard for a Husky station in Saskatchewan or whatever with some Punjabi words at the bottom.

I didn't get around to trying any of them on that trip, but I would certainly like to in the future. Some of the online reviews were pretty glowing!

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

Interesting sidenote about truck stops: There has been an absolute boom in the number of Indo-Canadian truck drivers, at least in Western Canada, over the last 20 years or so. (It is a path to immigration.)

What a weird coincidence - I just found out today that there's a station in Nipigon with a full Punjabi restaurant. I think the vast majority of truckers in ON are South Asian, so makes sense.

[WhipperSnapper]

2/3rds of all truckers in Canada.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by JHikka

What a weird coincidence - I just found out today that there's a station in Nipigon with a full Punjabi restaurant. I think the vast majority of truckers in ON are South Asian, so makes sense.

And yet so few were on the Trucker Konvoy blockade. it's almost like hey had better things to do, like work!

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Quebec is somewhat different. The classics like McDonald's, Tim Hortons and Subway are all there, but many others mentioned are largely absent and should be replaced by Thai Express, Sushi Shop, and a number of other Québécois chains.

I've been surprised to see Thai Express at highway exits in small towns far away from major cities.

We have a Sushi Shop in Timmins. Both it and Thai Express are part of the MTY Group of restaurants company. But I bet that a lot of people don't even realize what other restaurant chains are part of that company!

https://mtygroup.com/nos-enseignes/

Among the well known chains:

Mr Sub
Country Style
Bàton Rouge
Cultures
Manchu Wok
Mikes
Mr Souvlaki
Mucho Burrito
Pizza Delight
Scores
TacoTime
Timothy's
Turtle Jack's

And there are more.

Some of the chains that are well known in Quebec:

Allô mon Coco
Ben & Florentine
Café Dépot
Casa Grecque
Jugo Juice
Tutti Frutti
Valentine
Van Houtte
Yuzu Sushi

And many more.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Irving Big Stops here in the east.

To be honest, a Big Stop is a great place to eat if you are looking for large portions of traditional food, or an all day breakfast. I get a hankering about once a month, hopefully not frequently enough to kill me.

I've eaten at a number of them in the Atlantic provinces enjoy them while travelling. I usually stop at the one in Pembroke ON on the way to Ottawa as it's normally supper time by the time I'm there.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by esquire

Interesting sidenote about truck stops: There has been an absolute boom in the number of Indo-Canadian truck drivers, at least in Western Canada, over the last 20 years or so. (It is a path to immigration.)

What this has meant is a corresponding boom in truck stops serving various types of Indian cuisine along the major highways. I really noticed it when driving to Banff last summer... you'd see a billboard for a Husky station in Saskatchewan or whatever with some Punjabi words at the bottom.

I didn't get around to trying any of them on that trip, but I would certainly like to in the future. Some of the online reviews were pretty glowing!

I did notice the one in Nipigon. There is also one West of Thunder Bay in a remote area. I think it was near Upsala. During this pandemic, many of the restaurants along that stretch of Hwy 17 have had drastically reduced hours or weren't even open at all. But we noticed that the Punjabi one was open late and had lots of transport trucks parked at it. I'll see if I can find it on Google...

Here it is and it's in Savanne, not Upsala:

https://goo.gl/maps/mAAMLLHQJWBkuVpRA

There is also an Esso gas station with an LCBO agency store and a big moose head inside. The convenience store has a nice selection of Indian snack foods.

I've also noticed that Punjabi and other Indian dishes are available at a number of restaurants along truck routes even in remote areas. Normally the owner and/or the cooks are of Indian background but not always.

[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?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by zahav

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 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).

[casper]

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).

Growing up in Vancouver until the 90s there was a host of donut chains. Most were fairly small. Hole In One. Robin's Donuts etc. Not certain if any of these are still around.

My first experience with a donut place in Saskatoon was early 2000. The smoking laws were you could be smoke free or free for all. There was on on 2nd ave that was all smoking. You could not see the menu due to how thick the smoke was. That was later replaced with a Burmese restaurant.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by casper

Growing up in Vancouver until the 90s there was a host of donut chains. Most were fairly small. Hole In One. Robin's Donuts etc. Not certain if any of these are still around.

My first experience with a donut place in Saskatoon was early 2000. The smoking laws were you could be smoke free or free for all. There was on on 2nd ave that was all smoking. You could not see the menu due to how thick the smoke was. That was later replaced with a Burmese restaurant.

Robins Donuts was the kingpin of donut shops on the prairies during the 80s. Their particular style of architecture with narrow windows meant the locations somehow seemed dark and dingy even in the broad daylight. I seldom ever went into one when I was a kid but my memories are mainly of thick smoke and always seeing guys inside who looked like either cops or robbers

Robin's got shredded by Tim's huge marketing budgets in the 90s and 00s. They didn't last long in the face of the onslaught.

I remember going to Vancouver for the 1999 Grey Cup at BC Place and Tim's was a big sponsor of the game... by then they were well entrenched in Manitoba so I didn't think too much of it. But my Vancouver friend I was at the game with pointed out that you had to drive to Burnaby or some other inland locale to get to the nearest Tim's location. They had no Vancouver presence at the time. Hard to believe now.

[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.

[thewave46]

Tim Hortons just eviscerated most of the competition in Ontario.

Only a handful of Country Style, Robin's, and Coffee Time locations remain in places Tim's deems unworthy of the effort.

[Acajack]

I can remember when Québécois used to make fun of Ontarians and even ROCers in general, for their Timmies obsession.

That was before people here got hooked as well.

No one makes those jokes in Quebec anymore.

Timmies Über Alles.

(I still say there is some type of addictive drug in that coffee.)

[esquire]

It feels like the Tim's thing peaked roughly around 2010. Obviously they're still around but the "mania" for it is gone. It's more of a secret shame type of purchase rather than the point of pride it was for many 15-20 years ago.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by esquire

It feels like the Tim's thing peaked roughly around 2010. Obviously they're still around but the "mania" for it is gone. It's more of a secret shame type of purchase rather than the point of pride it was for many 15-20 years ago.

Eh, it's just an ordinary thing now instead of a mark of pride.

Maybe it's a secret shame for some uppity types, but it's more in the McD's category of background noise for the rest of the country.

Similarly, Starbucks isn't the uppity place it used to be either, once places like Sudbury, Brandon, Prince Albert, and Timmins got locations.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by thewave46

Eh, it's just an ordinary thing now instead of a mark of pride.

Maybe it's a secret shame for some uppity types, but it's more in the McD's category of background noise for the rest of the country.

Similarly, Starbucks isn't the uppity place it used to be either, once places like Sudbury, Brandon, Prince Albert, and Timmins got locations.

20 years ago Starbucks was the place for coffee snobs to go, but they have all moved on... I didn't think it was Starbucks' presence in smaller places (who cares about that?) so much as it was the emergence of more innovative competition.

My impression from my own social circles is that Starbucks' bread and butter is mostly middle class, middle aged people who came of age during Starbucks' glory days.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by esquire

It feels like the Tim's thing peaked roughly around 2010. Obviously they're still around but the "mania" for it is gone. It's more of a secret shame type of purchase rather than the point of pride it was for many 15-20 years ago.

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.

[esquire]

I actually don't mind Tim's. It serves its purpose... cheap, fast and reasonably good. But I don't think I will ever go back to my pre-covid routine of buying a coffee there every morning on the way to the office.

[WhipperSnapper]

I wouldn't get too wrapped up in ownership. Tim Horton's corporate decisions are made in Canada.