Canadian Retail Thread

[Doug_Cgy]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

A big week for Champlain Place mall here in Moncton.

Victoria's Secret and Pink open tomorrow.

Also, it was announced today that Bass Pro Shops will be opening at the mall in the fall of next year. They will be replacing the Crystal Palace amusement park on the north end of the property.

With Bass Pro Shops entering the market, Moncton will be the only city in Canada, and one of only a handful of cities in all of North America with both a Bass Pro Shops and a Cabela's.

Moncton has done a great job attracting international retailers

I believe (though I could be wrong) Edmonton will be getting a Bass Pro in their Airport Mall development. Calgary is also getting a Cabela's, so we'll all have both Bass Pro & Cabela's

[SpongeG]

in grande prairie ab, gap factory store, old navy, urban barn, justice/brothers (kids clothing from the USA) a shoe store and a lingerie store are opening soon in phase 2 of the new westgate centre, phase one has dollar giant, bouclair home, homesense, carters, chatters, bulk barn, party city, pier one, bed bath and beyond, harveys, the source, some pet food bakery, a hair salon and a browns social house, there is a plan for phase 3 with a big box retailer, i am guessing it might be marshalls...

[miketoronto]

Instead of these boring chain stores which can be found anywhere. I visited the Junction area of Toronto this past weekend, and went to this amazing local mens shop, which only sells clothing made in Toronto or Canada.

It is of course more expensive, but it was really interesting. The owner knows where all the stuff is made, and has seen the factory. And the shirts I bought are coloured with natural substances like tea.
Very interesting little shop, and something we need more of. I bought a tie for about $40.00, that is handmade in Toronto, and there are only a couple of each pattern made. A similar exclusive tie like that in a chain shop could set you back $100.00 or more, for something that has a limited supple, even though they are made in sweatshops.

[SpongeG]

well aren't you fancy iggy

[manny_santos]

Has anyone here shopped at Target lately?

I went to Target in Kingston about 3 weeks ago on a Saturday, late afternoon. I felt like I was at The Leftorium on The Simpsons - completely deserted. Kingston is a textbook example of Target's performance in Canada - they're in a well-established mall that gets a lot of traffic while Target (and Sears) sit deserted, while the city's only Walmart is in a somewhat isolated, out-of-the-way location north of the mall, that requires two left turns at lengthy traffic lights to get out of. But it's always packed when I visit (which is not very often).

On the plus side, Target had two cashiers open, and no lineup. Looks to be the best place to get groceries in town if for that reason alone.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Has anyone here shopped at Target lately?

I went to Target in Kingston about 3 weeks ago on a Saturday, late afternoon. I felt like I was at The Leftorium on The Simpsons - completely deserted. Kingston is a textbook example of Target's performance in Canada - they're in a well-established mall that gets a lot of traffic while Target (and Sears) sit deserted, while the city's only Walmart is in a somewhat isolated, out-of-the-way location north of the mall, that requires two left turns at lengthy traffic lights to get out of. But it's always packed when I visit (which is not very often).

On the plus side, Target had two cashiers open, and no lineup. Looks to be the best place to get groceries in town if for that reason alone.

I've gone in to the Kitchener Target a couple of times, but it has been very quiet when I've been there. Even the in-house Starbucks wasn't busy. The Kitchener Wal-Mart that replaced a Zellers (i.e. not the mega store) also tends to be very quiet (and it smells bad).

[SpongeG]

i went to the one in grande prairie (alberta) on sunday it was quite busy they even opened an extra till because a line was forming.

the ones out west i have been to have always been quite busy and no stock issues that i have seen.

sounds like ontario is getting the worst of it

[ue]

In Edmonton, it really depends on the location. West Ed and Mill Woods have stocking issues and tend to be quieter, I've found. St. Albert is more consistently busy by comparison. Not sure about Kingsway.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

Has anyone here shopped at Target lately?

I went to Target in Kingston about 3 weeks ago on a Saturday, late afternoon. I felt like I was at The Leftorium on The Simpsons - completely deserted. Kingston is a textbook example of Target's performance in Canada - they're in a well-established mall that gets a lot of traffic while Target (and Sears) sit deserted, while the city's only Walmart is in a somewhat isolated, out-of-the-way location north of the mall, that requires two left turns at lengthy traffic lights to get out of. But it's always packed when I visit (which is not very often).

On the plus side, Target had two cashiers open, and no lineup. Looks to be the best place to get groceries in town if for that reason alone.

Target is always empty. It's just not catching on in Kingston. Kingston in general has a bit of an overabundance of retail. You can tell when you walk downtown and see about a third of the storefronts are empty, take a spin down Bath Road and see all the empty strip malls, or walk through Frontenac Mall and see how half of it is boarded up.

Walmart is the exception, not the rule. They're planning a second superstore in Kingston in the Division & 401 area.

I do almost all of my grocery shopping at Loblaws and I don't plan to change that. I've always been a bit of a President's Choice loyalist, but now with the PC Plus program I'm completely hooked. I can deal with line ups.

I find, at least in Eastern Ontario (not sure if true elsewhere) that Loblaws is actually the cheapest grocery store if you smart-shop (ie. pay close attention to unit pricing, only buy things that are on sale, buy items in bulk when they are on sale, always buy private label instead of brand name, etc.) On the surface places like FreshCo or Food Basics can appear cheaper but you can't save nearly as much by smart-shopping as you can at the PC family. I will agree that if you're not a smart shopper--ie, you like to buy brand name products, or prefer the convenience of buying whatever whenever instead of waiting for sales--that Loblaws is on the pricier side.

Same deal with Shoppers Drug Mart.

[Taeolas]

Fredericton's Target seems similar to the Ontario examples. It's in a decent location, but parking can be annoying at times. Inside, there rarely seems to be any sort of crowds; maybe about a quarter of the crowd of Regent Mall's Walmart, and that's being generous.

Freddy has 2 Walmart Supercentres now and 1 regular Target. And most of the times I've been in Target, it's felt empty; something I've never felt in either of the Walmarts.

Selection and shelf stocking are the main issues. The shelves look empty so I tend to feel like I'm missing stuff.

I don't think it's necessarily a Target Canada issues either. A few years ago, I'd go down to the States and visit a Target and there were things that caught my eye (selection and price wise). The past couple years, when I've visited Targets in Bangor and Las Vegas, nothing's really got my attention and they feel a lot like the Canadian Targets in general.

I will give them credit for one thing; the stores are clean (and this goes for the US and Canadian stores), which is a huge step up from the old Zellers stores, or the KMart stores in the States.

[esquire]

Prior to their Canadian expansion, Target had a very positive perception in these parts... the giant Targets in North Dakota were and to some degree still are practically mandatory stops for cross-border shoppers from Manitoba. Go down to the Target Supercentre in Grand Forks on a weekend and a large proportion of the license plates will be from Canada.

Despite that, Target has definitely not caught on in Winnipeg. It barely seems any busier than Zellers was. A couple of people have expressed disappointment that the food selection is not quite the same as it is in a US Target (the same can be said for Walmart but no one ever mentions that). Target definitely did a crappy job with their supply chain management so no doubt the empty shelves turned a lot of customers off, but apart from that, the Targets in Winnipeg are barely different than the one in, say, Fargo apart from the slightly higher Canadian pricing you get with every chain. So I'm a little surprised that people are so turned off by it.

(For what it's worth, I like Target... roughly the same price points as Walmart but much more pleasant stores and nicer stuff overall.)

[eemy]

I generally prefer Target over Walmart as well, but I have to confess that I don't go to either that often and when I do, it has mostly been in the US.

[memememe76]

Who buys groceries at Target? Besides things like chips, candy, frozen and canned goods, I do not view Target as a grocery store. It's more like a bigger Shoppers or 7-11 but Target's hours are worse.

The Walmarts near where I live (Surrey, BC) have all been converted to their Superstore format. Same for Real Canadian Superstore (my personal go-to place). I think for people in the Lower Mainland, that's what they may have been expecting with Target, even though every Target I have ever stepped into in the US are not Superstores. But apparently, Superstore Targets do exist in parts of the US.

But for what it is, Target is still lacking. A store like London Drugs has better selection and prices.

But I never ever really got the appeal of Target when it was just in the US. On my regular cross border trips to Bellingham, this is where I shop: 1. Winco, 2. Fred Meyer, 3. Costco, 4. Walmart, 5. Bellis Fair, which just happens to have a Target.

[1overcosc]

Its interesting because everybody was freaking out about how Target was going to take over... many retailers reacted, for example Loblaws launched its PC Plus program & acquired Shoppers Drug Mart in anticipation of Target's arrival... and it turned out to be a flop.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by memememe76

The Walmarts near where I live (Surrey, BC) have all been converted to their Superstore format. Same for Real Canadian Superstore (my personal go-to place). I think for people in the Lower Mainland, that's what they may have been expecting with Target, even though every Target I have ever stepped into in the US are not Superstores. But apparently, Superstore Targets do exist in parts of the US.

Now that you mention it, I think that might be part of it. The Target that Wpgers are most familiar with in Grand Forks is a Supercenter with a huge grocery selection (no doubt in part due to the vast number of Winnipeggers who shop there). Whereas the Targets in Winnipeg do not have that feature although one will be opening soon. I wonder if that was behind the foul taste left in some mouths?

FWIW I find the idea of grocery shopping at Target or Walmart just plain weird.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by memememe76

Who buys groceries at Target? Besides things like chips, candy, frozen and canned goods, I do not view Target as a grocery store. It's more like a bigger Shoppers or 7-11 but Target's hours are worse.

The Walmarts near where I live (Surrey, BC) have all been converted to their Superstore format. Same for Real Canadian Superstore (my personal go-to place). I think for people in the Lower Mainland, that's what they may have been expecting with Target, even though every Target I have ever stepped into in the US are not Superstores. But apparently, Superstore Targets do exist in parts of the US.

But for what it is, Target is still lacking. A store like London Drugs has better selection and prices.

But I never ever really got the appeal of Target when it was just in the US. On my regular cross border trips to Bellingham, this is where I shop: 1. Winco, 2. Fred Meyer, 3. Costco, 4. Walmart, 5. Bellis Fair, which just happens to have a Target.

target's superstore is called target greatland - seattle had one but my internet is too slow to do an internet search i think it was near everett

target is great for trendy items especially the home decor and fashion, they aren't a store where you go for the basics but you pick em up since you are already there and when they put stuff on sale its great but it doesn't last long - last week they had 200 sheets of paper for 10 cents

their home decor items are basically cheaper versions of what you can find at west elm or pottery barn thats why decor/fashionistas like them, they are always right on trend

see this example:

http://youpaidmorethanme.blogspot.ca/

they do carry a lot of brands i like and hard to find or ship into canada like Caldrea and mrs meyers and they are priced well and they have some good collaborations with designers that the general public has never heard of lol but those in the know know

[VIce]

I don't think it's fair to say that Target is a flop yet. It rolled out over 100 locations in the same year; I don't think its crazy to think that their supply chain is going to be taxed and is going to need optimization. I think its hard to expect a retail expansion of that magnitude to go perfectly, and given the price they paid for their locations they might be able to afford to stick it out for awhile to improve both brand (it surprised me how badly it has been damaged in Canada), their supply chain issues, and their price.

Personally, I do like Target. With respect to home and kitchen products there seems to be a large gap between the very cheap, but poor-quality products from Walmart and the like and the mid-range to high-end products at other retailers, and Target seems to fill that gap at least partially. I've found that if I need a certain product, Target will have a version that I both want to have and can afford, rather than a product that I get by with and afford.

[SignalHillHiker]

I haven't been to our Target yet. It's just a normal one. Would they have that sort of home furnishing? I'll go if so!

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I haven't been to our Target yet. It's just a normal one. Would they have that sort of home furnishing? I'll go if so!

Probably just home décor and assorted small stuff. Their bathroom stuff can be nice.

[SpongeG]

they have things like desks, media consoles, chairs, tables, bookcases, futons etc. many of which you assemble yourself

they stock a limited number of armchairs, they have an amazing selection of lamps - they usually don't restock the furniture type stuff so if you see it you buy it - i missed out a few things i really liked

they usually have a number of chairs like this style in store



bigger items like sofas can be ordered online only in the states i've never thought of asking at the store if they can bring in something that they have online