[Moncton] Retail Thread

[stephan.richard]

Do we know the timeline on when Sportchek at the Northwest Center will open up.. Hope they will be open by Christmas and I hope it will not be as crowded as the one in CF Champlain.

[MonctonRad]

I'm sure it'll be open by Christmas. I don't know for sure, but my prediction is mid-November.

[MonctonRad]

I made my first purchase at Bass Pro Shops today (nothing special - socks). I chatted up the cashier on the way out and asked him how business had been since opening and he said "super". I said that I imagined that they must be getting a lot of out-of-province traffic from NS and PEI and he said yes, and then volunteered "and from Maine too", which I found a little surprising, but when you think of it, Moncton is just as convenient to eastern and northern Maine as is LL Bean in Freeport, and the nearest US BPS is in Hooksett NH, so I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that Mainers would come up here (especially given the current exchange rate).

The BPS parking lot was about 80% full. As is my custom right now (since I am curious about the impact of BPS on Cabela's), I drove by Cabela's on the way home and I would say that the parking lot over there was about 70-75% full too. So far, I think Cabela's is holding it's own........

[Scarface]

Is there a strip ,mall to be built on the cleared land next to the Arby's on Mountain Road or where they just switching out the sign after a long while?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Scarface

Is there a strip ,mall to be built on the cleared land next to the Arby's on Mountain Road or where they just switching out the sign after a long while?

This is what is proposed for that particular piece of land:





I know the sign on the property shows a generic strip mall, but the images above are screen captures from the video feed of the Moncton City Council meeting where the plans were presented. Hopefully construction will start next year, but I don't imagine there are any absolute guarantees.

[stephan.richard]

Does anyone know when Moncton Chrysler will start construction on their new location close to the Hampton Inn?

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by stephan.richard

Does anyone know when Moncton Chrysler will start construction on their new location close to the Hampton Inn?

Should be soon if the din't start yet. They where clearing some land out that area for a while.

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Request before the October meeting of the Moncton PAC concerning the lot next to the CIBC in the Main Street Superstore parking lot:



This is the location:



There was a site plan from the other year showing a planned coffee shop, or fast food joint in this location, the footprint of which looked suspiciously like a Tim Horton's:

I seen workers on the site today. They where possibly marking out the lot, and spaces for the entrances, and exits.

Also does anyone know what is being built Behind the Maritime Source for sports I seen equipment there, and they seem to be working hard today.

[stephan.richard]

does anyone know if there are any prospects that could possibly be filling out the rest of mapleton center and I also hope that plaza realty can fill out the strip mall that that is on the old Kent building supply proprety.

[micks5477]

It appears that Jungle Jim's is history. For what reasons no one I have asked seems to know. The outside sign has been taken down and the windows have been covered. I kind of like them. Food was decent but the service was poor. Possibly all the new restaurants on the north end hurt them like Pita Pit, Mary Brown's, Big League Burger...etc.

[habskilla]

We used to visit them regularly, but stopped going after they dropped the ball a couple of times.

There is so much competition that businesses can't afford to too many missteps.

[MonctonRad]

Main Street Superstore Mall Update:

1)- work on the new Giant Tiger in the main superstore mall building appears to be back on track. The whole facade between the Superstore itself and the CBC part of the building is being replaced.



2)- They are now moving dirt at the site of the new coffee shop/fast food drive thru building behind the Main Street CIBC. Construction is presumably imminent.

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Main Street Superstore Mall Update:

1)- work on the new Giant Tiger in the main superstore mall building appears to be back on track. The whole facade between the Superstore itself and the CBC part of the building is being replaced.



2)- They are now moving dirt at the site of the new coffee shop/fast food drive thru building behind the Main Street CIBC. Construction is presumably imminent.

Glad to see Giant Tiger looking to be back on track. Talking to a few employees I got the feeling they where working without permits, and got caught, and that's what caused the delays. But of course it's just from talking to workers that I got that impression.

[Scarface]

There has been some site prep work for the new Zio's Restaurant/Commercial strip. They where digging out Clark street to change out the water, and sewage lines. Going to guess the old ones where not heavy duty enough. Also I think the owner of Zio's purchased the lot on the NW corner of Church, and Clark.

[stephan.richard]

I heard a rumor to work that Cabela's her in Moncton could be shutting down can anyone confirm the rumor?

[MonctonRad]

They've only been open six months, and haven't even seen their first Christmas shopping season yet. I highly doubt this rumour. The only reason why such rumours might be flying around right now is because of the perceived competition between Cabela's and BPS, and the fact that BPS is a bigger and fancier store. I think there are some overactive imaginations here.........

Give it another 18-24 months before panicking. We're dealing with Cabela's here, not Target!!

I did read somewhere earlier this year that the whole Cabela's chain was deeply in debt over expansion plans, and some retail analysts only gave them (the chain) a guarded forecast, but that isn't stopping Cabela's from planning on a new store at Dartmouth Crossing in Halifax. I have no reason to be overtly concerned at the present time. As I said, they have a lot invested in that store at Mapleton Crossing. I just can't see them pulling the plug without giving the store a fighting chance.

[OUIR@random]

Cabela's closing in Moncton is a big overblown baseless rumour, I can't see this happening, for now anyway Cabela's is here to stay. Those silly rumours might have been started by staff at BPS, who knows. I must say that the place is not as busy as it was this spring or summer, but I think that is to be expected. I was not aware that Cabela's in general was not doing so well, as mentioned by MonctonRad. However I will say it again, I don't know if Cabela's and BPS can both survive in our flat economy (NB) and the low Canadian $ value, the prices at Cabela's are indeed very high. Then again, our low dollar is making prices rise all across the board in Canada, from food, to household products, to clothing.

regarding Cabela's in Moncton;

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Give it another 18-24 months before panicking.

Wow, talk bout déjà vu, I said something along these lines a couple of years ago regarding Target.

Closing a few stores here and there is nothing for Cabela's. If there is one thing I'm sure of; corporations won't stay in a market if it's operating at a loss, whoever they might be or as large as they might be, yes just look at Target Canada indeed...

[MonctonRad]

I found the article where they mentioned potential troubles for Cabela's (the chain) - it was from Forbes' in February of this year. http://www.forbes.com/sites/liyanchen/20...ere-are-the-most-troubled-retail-stocks/. The article doesn't actually mention any debt for Cabela's and instead concentrates on decline in same store sales. This is definitely a problem, but can be recovered from.

Last week, RadioShack filed for bankruptcy and announced it would shut down some 1,100 stores by the end of the month. While the 94-year-old company is an American household brand, the outcome is not surprising – sales had been shrinking for years before the company’s final downfall.

The electronics retailer is not alone, as brick-and-mortar chains have faced a struggle in recent years. To identify companies who may be stuck in a similar plight, FORBES looked at overall same store sales growth – one of the most important metrics for the retail industry. We screened publicly-traded U.S. retailers with more than $1 billion in sales and ranked them based on the average of overall same store sales growth in the four most recent fiscal quarters.

The top of our list is telling: with an average 16.6% quarterly drop, RadioShack has the highest decline in same store sales over the past year. In fact, the company’s same store sales have been in the red for 8 out of last 10 quarters, even as it lost about 2,000 stores of its more than 7,300 in 2011.

Cabela’s Inc., the retail giant of hunting, fishing and related outdoor goods, ranked second-worst with an average 14.4% same store sales decline over the past 4 quarters. That’s followed by a few other struggling retailers including Aeropostale (-13%), hhgregg (-9.5%), Abercrombie & Fitch (-7.3%), and American Eagle (-5.3%). All three once-popular teen clothing chains have had trouble adjusting to changing styles.

While other retailers aren’t doing quite so poorly, investors should keep an eye on consumer electronic retailer Best Buy BBY +0.00%. Like RadioShack and the aforementioned hhgregg, Best Buy faces a challenging climate for technology sales. Luckily, its same store sale decline was limited to an average of 1% in the past year. Other retailers, such as Barnes & Nobles with an average quarterly decline of 2%, are also having a rough time –even as their situation remains less dire than RadioShack’s.

While our list excluded companies that do not report overall same store sales growth, a few other companies deserve some serious skepticism. For example, luxury retailer Coach COH +0.00% reported an average same store sales decline of 21.1% in the U.S. over the past year. Sears, another well-known brand that saw 9.2% of net sales decline in 2013, had an average of 2.1% drop in same store sales in the most recent four quarters – not a very encouraging sign amid its supposed turnaround plan.

I repeat, I am not personally concerned about the future of the Cabela's store here in Moncton. I think they did well before BPS opened, and if things are dipping somewhat now, I'm sure it's because of the novelty of BPS, with their new impressive store and their range and selection of goods, especially clothing.

I have mentioned before that I hope there will be a synergy between the two stores, with the fact of both of them being in Moncton leading to cost comparison between the two and increased regional retail tourism.

As a vote of confidence in the future of Cabela's in Moncton, I note that they are advertising prominently at the Moncton Coliseum (on the centre scoreboard) and they continue to advertise for job openings in Moncton, including this one for a "retail events coordinator" https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGWebHost/jo...partnerid=25405&siteid=5455&codes=INDEED, posted only 10 days ago.

These don't seem to be the actions of a retailer seriously considering it's future in the greater Moncton area. I view this rumour mentioned by stephan as being baseless, scurrilous and potentially dangerous in that once it gets spread about on the interweb, it could negatively impact upon peoples perceptions and shopping behaviour. This rumour is without foundation and we should ignore it, and carry on supporting Cabela's as we have for the last six months. I wish Cabela's much prosperity and success in it's future here in greater Moncton.

[micks5477]

There is no known truth to this but interesting that when I was in Cabela's and asked an employee about the store closing, all they said was they did not know but that it was talked about among some employees.

[MonctonRad]

With a fierce competitor in town (BPS), it would only be natural for some employees to be nervous. It doesn't take much for a rumour to start, and once started it will spread like wildfire. I still consider the rumour to be baseless, but only time will tell. I'm sure this Christmas shopping season will be crucial, but I really think that it would be prudent to wait at least another year before making any hard decisions.

In brief, I'm sure Cabela's is safe for the short term, and likely even the medium term. Nobody can predict the long term however.