[Moncton] Retail Thread

[MonctonRad]

The complete forklift upgrade to the Champlain Place Walmart is progressing apace.

Every single department will be moved during the refurbishment. The in-store McDonald's will be removed entirely.

Completion will be this fall.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The complete forklift upgrade to the Champlain Place Walmart is progressing apace.

Every single department will be moved during the refurbishment. The in-store McDonald's will be removed entirely.

Completion will be this fall.

MacD's being replaced with something or are they going to no food outlet at all?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by sailor734

MacD's being replaced with something or are they going to no food outlet at all?

They are going to be using the space for retail.

The Champlain Place Walmart is a little on the small side for the superstore concept.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

They are going to be using the space for retail.

The Champlain Place Walmart is a little on the small side for the superstore concept.

Oh, OK.

I had wondered if they might be going to try a Walmart branded low priced fast food outlet. Something to emulate Costco.

[josh_cat_eyes]

The McDonalds has been closed for some time anyway. It’s been mostly storage the past few years.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

The McDonalds has been closed for some time anyway. It’s been mostly storage the past few years.

Yeah, Google suggests that Walmart has been moving away from MacDonalds since 2021. In the US they have gone from over 1,000 stores with a MacD's to around 150.

[DyAm00394]

Just some retail news:

Hudson’s Bay to sell its brands to Canadian Tire in $30M deal.
https://globalnews.ca/news/11182412/hudsons-bay-canadian-tire-sale/

"Hudson’s Bay is getting a second life with a new owner — Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd.

Canadian Tire said Thursday that it will pay $30 million for intellectual property belonging to the retailer, which is Canada’s oldest company.

The sale includes the overarching Hudson’s Bay brand, its iconic, multicoloured stripes motif, its coat of arms and other brand trademarks.

The deal allows products under these names to be sold by Canadian Tire, which also owns SportChek, Party City, Mark’s and Pro Hockey Life, at their 1,700 stores.

The exchange includes houseware brands Gluckstein and Distinctly Home, as well as discount brand Zellers and apparel line Hudson North, said a source familiar with the deal, who is not being named because they were unauthorized to speak about it".

[MonctonRad]

It will be interesting to see what Canadian Tire does with this intellectual property.

Some of the HBC brands could be sold in Canadian Tire stores, while otheres might go to Marks (like Hudson Bay blankets).

Or, could CTC rebrand Party City to become standalone Hudson Bay junior department stores? I could also see this happening.

Interesting times.............

[OUIR@random]

So glad a Canadian company snatched the HBC brands and trademarks. With that being said, only 30 million$, that sounds like a steal, I thought I read the price wrong. I thought it would be worth much more, 30 million dollars in the retail world is peanuts, peanuts... Good on CT for grabbing this at a steal price.

Moral of the story it was not purchased by Americans in any way shape or form.


as far as artifacts, art and heritage pieces, I hope First Nations have a word in the discussion and have a final say and that it stays Canadian, it should not go to private individuals or end up on the auction block. I know many items are already in the hands of the Manitoba museum and archives.

[MonctonRad]

MEC announces new Canadian ownership
Retail Insider
By Mario Toneguzzi
Date: May 16, 2025
https://retail-insider.com/retail-insider/2025/05/mec-announces-new-canadian-ownership/

Mountain Equipment Company (MEC) has been acquired by a group of private Canadian investors with deep industry experience and a vision of reshoring some manufacturing to Canada, says the retailer.

This transaction shifts MEC’s ownership to a Canadian group with domain expertise, a deep belief in MEC’s purpose and a long-term vision for the business, it said.

“The new investor group is led by Tim Gu, who brings a deep background in Canadian retail, manufacturing, and investment. Tim is Chairman of Unisync Corp. (TSX: UNI), a publicly traded Canadian uniform and workwear company, as well as an investor in Canadian heritage brands including Tilley and Roots. He founded and operates E.star International Inc, a Toronto-based apparel manufacturing facility established in 1999, which supports Canadian jobs and champions “Made in Canada” production — values that closely align with MEC’s heritage and mission,” said MEC in a statement.

Other Canadian investors joining Gu in the ownership group include MEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Peter Hlynsky, as well as Chief Merchandising Officer Chris Speyer, both longtime members, making this a partial management buyout. This underscores how much the leadership believes in the future of the company, it said.

The return of Canadian ownership for MEC is a good news story, especially coming on top of the other recent news that HBC's intellectual property will remain Canadian after the purchase by CTC. I think we may see further expansion of MEC within Canada in the future, and the return of HBC branded products within Canada using CTC retailers as a conduit. What form this takes still has to be determined, but I hope for a return of the HBC banner in a non department store format of some form, possibly as a boutique or big box strip mall store.

[josh_cat_eyes]

I used to think that Empire should have bought Zellers when it was for sale. At the time a lot of Crombie properties featured both retailers, and it would have been a good addition to their portfolio. You could have introduced fresh groceries to Zellers and turned it into more of a Walmart type store with Sobeys remaining for smaller markets.

Canadian Tire now has an opportunity to do something similar with Zellers or Hudson’s Bay. I feel Canadian Tire has taken a significant portion of the market share formerly held by Zellers, but from a good standpoint, a lot of that had went to Walmart, Loblaws, Sobeys Dollarama and Giant Tiger.

I wonder if Canadian Tire will utilize their diverse portfolio to revive Zellers or Hudson’s Bay. Zellers could be positioned next to Dollarama & Giant Tiger while Hudson’s Bay could be a conglomeration of their holdings into a single department store. It’ll be interesting to find out what their plans are. I imagine they bought them with the intent to use them, and not to sit on them for a rainy day.

[David_99]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I can confirm the rumours of Dollarama moving into the former Great Canadian Dollar Store location on Morton. Should be opening sometime later this year.

The outdoor renos are coming along.

[MonctonRad]

Further to the above, I wonder what has happened to plans for a combo Mary Brown's/Fat — Burrito on the parcel of land just in front of the Dollarama?

There had been a rendering out there showing such a development, but, the signage on the lot now says "pre-leasing", and, the Fat — website shows no new or available franchises for the chain in NB.

Did the plans fall through???

[MonctonRad]

FWIW, here is the Collers Atlantic brochure for this property, depicting a "multi-restaurant plaza" for this pad, including four units, of which three are leased. The unit closest to Morton is depicted with Mary Brown colours.

https://listingsprod.blob.core.windows.n...8ae/261e62c1-7b0f-4122-8228-6ce6057a1087

I don't know how current this brochure is, but, the site has been moribund for over a year.

[David_99]

There was a post on Retail Talk and Share on Aug 29, 2024 saying the building was delayed due to a permit issue, but that it was still coming.

[David_99]

The spot next to Nancy Nails (0510) on Filles de Jesus Ave has a leased sign in the window. Nothing on the Crombie site yet.

[DyAm00394]

Thriftys by Bluenotes is opening soon at Champlain Place. Job adverts are now online. They are a larger format Bluenotes store that also carries their other sister brands like West 49.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

Thriftys by Bluenotes is opening soon at Champlain Place. Job adverts are now online. They are a larger format Bluenotes store that also carries their other sister brands like West 49.

I wonder what this means for the existing Bluenotes store at Champlain? They renovated only last year.

If the new Thrifty's goes hot and heavy on West 49 merch, they could coexist.

I wonder if this will go in the vacancy where Shoppers used to be?

[MonctonRad]

Halifax Retales is reporting that Dollar Tree is now confirmed for the Bayers Lake Business Park (Chain Lake Drive near the Canadian Tire).

There were rumours about Dollar Tree a couple of years ago, then the chain got into difficulty in the US with a significant contraction in the number of locations in the States. The rumour mill then went dead. Is this a rebirth?

If they show up in Halifax, I imagine it will only be a matter of time before they also show up in Moncton (and Saint John). I am in no way a booster of this type of retail concept, but, there are already 12 Dollaramas in Moncton. It's time for a new competitor!!

I could see them going into Granite Drive.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Halifax Retales is reporting that Dollar Tree is now confirmed for the Bayers Lake Business Park (Chain Lake Drive near the Canadian Tire).

There were rumours about Dollar Tree a couple of years ago, then the chain got into difficulty in the US with a significant contraction in the number of locations in the States. The rumour mill then went dead. Is this a rebirth?

If they show up in Halifax, I imagine it will only be a matter of time before they also show up in Moncton (and Saint John). I am in no way a booster of this type of retail concept, but, there are already 12 Dollaramas in Moncton. It's time for a new competitor!!

I could see them going into Granite Drive.

Potential locations for a Dollar Tree in my opinion would be:

Granite Centre
Mapleton Centre
Riverview Mall Development
Dieppe Superstore Development
Next to Fairlanes & NBLC

This would give them a really good coverage area of the city without going towards overboard. Start with Granite Centre & Mapleton Centre and as the Dieppe Superstore & Riverview Mall developments advance, add locations there. If those are good, add one in central Moncton, which I think next to NBLC would be a good location.