Canadian Retail Thread - Page 228

Nouvellecosse · #**4541** Posted **Sep 8, 2016, 8:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

Could there be less fierce competition in Canada (compared to the States) for IKEA from domestic retailers in the same market niche?

I'd say that's definitely the case in my local market. Here, we have a number of big box furniture and appliance stores like Leon's and Worldwide Furniture that are affordable, but offering mostly stuff i would never want in my home. It tends to be either "mock country" (stuff like honey-coloured wood dining sets and shelving) or "overstuffed suburban" (black or maroon leather or vinyl pillow-style sofas and recliners, complemented by 80s style glass coffee tables).

There are a couple of smaller stores offering nicer designs, but they're higher end and much more costly than Ikea.

GreaterMontréal · #**4542** Posted **Sep 8, 2016, 9:46 PM**

Quebec City will have its Ikea.
summer 2018, in Ste-Foy, situated in the big 5Msf commercial center. 340,000 sf

http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/about_ikea...e_announcement

Quebec City already have a pick-up and order point.

SpongeG · #**4543** Posted **Sep 8, 2016, 10:45 PM**

Hudsons Bay is expanding to Europe, they will open a store in Amsterdam with more to follow

Quote:

Department store chain Hudson’s Bay announced its first steps onto the Dutch market today. Over the coming years, the Canadian retailer will open approximately twenty department stores in Dutch cities. In Amsterdam, Hudson’s Bay signed a lease with IVY Group for the buildings located at Rokin 21, Rokin 49 and the Vleeshal building located at Nes.

http://www.ivygroup.nl/en/news/hudso...n-in-amsterdam

ue · #**4544** Posted **Sep 8, 2016, 11:57 PM**

When was the last time a new Bay store was built in Canada?

Nouvellecosse · #**4545** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 12:27 AM**

Why would they want that in Amsterdam? Is the Bay really interesting and unique enough that it could bring something of value to the market in Europe?

MonctonRad · #**4546** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 12:31 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Why would they want that in Amsterdam? Is the Bay really interesting and unique enough that it could bring something of value to the market in Europe?

A great place to sell maple syrup, stuffed toy moose, toques and Mountie dolls.......

1overcosc · #**4547** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 2:26 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

The IKEA map really shows how "small is beautiful" (population-wise anyway) can work in Canada's favour. There are tons of metros in the U.S. that have well over 1 million people that don't have an IKEA and are some distance away from IKEA stores.

Costco is another good example of this. It has stores in sub-200k Canadian cities like Moncton, St. John's and Sudbury. But none in cities like Buffalo NY which is of similar size to Ottawa-Gatineau. (Ottawa-Gatineau has 4 Costcos.)

Costco has only one store in Pittsburgh, a metro comparable to Vancouver.

I've known a few Americans attending school here in Kingston who were utterly shocked to discover just how many stores and services are available here, considering the city only has 125,000 people. The fact that we have a Costco here was something all of them brought up, actually. (Another popular one was transit--many were surprised that bus transit was halfway decent here).

GreaterMontréal · #**4548** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 2:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

I've known a few Americans attending school here in Kingston who were utterly shocked to discover just how many stores and services are available here, considering the city only has 125,000 people. The fact that we have a Costco here was something all of them brought up, actually. (Another popular one was transit--many were surprised that bus transit was halfway decent here).

Drummondville has a Costco, pop. 75,000 . To me, it seems normal for Kingston to have a Costco, with a population of 125,000. Trois-Rivières also has one. I think cities in Canada have a lot to offer, but we don't realize it.

jmt18325 · #**4549** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 2:56 AM**

I'm really surprised that Brandon doesn't yet have a Costco.

SpongeG · #**4550** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 5:46 AM**

Courtenay on vancouver island has a costco with a population of 25,000 and a metro population of 55,000 but it does serve Vancouver Island north where there are a lot of resorts and fishing resorts etc. The closest one to that is Nanaimo about an hour south and the only other one on the island is in Langford for The Victoria Region.

isaidso · #**4551** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 6:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Why would they want that in Amsterdam? Is the Bay really interesting and unique enough that it could bring something of value to the market in Europe?

I assumed like most people that Hudson Bay would flat line into irrelevance or bankruptcy but they've made an astonishing comeback over the last 5 years.

They've been very smart in buying retailers with valuable real estate, selling the real estate, and then leasing the space back. They've poured the money into refurbishing their stores, refreshing their branding, and moving up market. Their downtown Toronto store is gorgeous and people are flocking back to that brand in large numbers.

The big acquisition of German firm Galeria Kaufhof represented their European beachhead with stores in both Germany and Belgium. The Netherlands was a natural fit. Dutch department store V&D went bankrupt so HBC pounced. When asked what brand the Dutch would like to see they responded that they wanted something of their own. The Dutch have an affinity for Canada stemming from Canadian troops liberating their country in WW2 and a Dutch princess being born in Ottawa during the war years.

"What we found out was that the people of the Netherlands wanted a young, exciting and interesting department store that was theirs, but they also loved Hudson’s Bay and they also loved the idea of a Canadian department store,” said Baker. So what we’ve done is, we are opening up a chain of premium department stores in the Netherlands that is similar to the Hudson’s Bay stores, but with a Dutch flavour to them."

I'll also re-post something I wrote last week as it bears repeating here:

Quote:

I find Canadians often discount/dismiss what they have and assume foreigners couldn't possibly be interested in our institutions, our culture, our products, our brands, or visiting us if in direct competition with the US, Japan, France.... and their offerings. Roots is another example of a foreigner recognizing something right in front of us as valuable, then selling it to everyone.

Back when I was at business school the prevailing attitude was that Canadian companies were to be built up to a point where they could be sold to Americans. The idea that one could expand overseas was almost looked at as ludicrous dreaming. Thankfully, the generation now seizing power are far more confident in Canada and themselves.

isaidso · #**4552** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 7:06 AM**

Hudson Bay's 'Canadiana' section with the point blankets, HBC branded products, etc. seems to do very well. It's something different, has a history to it, and they're high end products. Here's the new shoe department at Toronto's Queen Street Hudson Bay:

Courtesy of arido

Hudson Bay also owns Saks and this is their new cafe in the same building as the Hudson Bay store on Queen:

Courtesy of lena

SaskScraper · #**4553** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 1:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

The IKEA map really shows how "small is beautiful" (population-wise anyway) can work in Canada's favour. There are tons of metros in the U.S. that have well over 1 million people that don't have an IKEA and are some distance away from IKEA stores.

Costco is another good example of this. It has stores in sub-200k Canadian cities like Moncton, St. John's and Sudbury. But none in cities like Buffalo NY which is of similar size to Ottawa-Gatineau. (Ottawa-Gatineau has 4 Costcos.)

Costco has only one store in Pittsburgh, a metro comparable to Vancouver.

I think another reason why international stores, particularly Costco's hundred stores in Canada does so well in this country is because Canada doesn't have a lot of competition in grocery stores specifically. Other than Loblaw's company of store, Sobey's (Safeway, IGA), Overwaitea (Save-on-foods), there's only larger international company's like Walmart etc, nationwide.

There are regional grocery stores in Saskatchewan like Saskatoon Coop stores but other than the above mentioned stores plus the two Costco stores and each of the Walmarts in the city of Saskatoon, thats it besides small mom&pop grocery stores. USA has tons of other grocery stores for competition.

Something else I've noticed in a case of Saskatoon is that most of the major shopping malls and the Real Canadian Superstores in the city have underground parking which maybe help to make these shopping area's particularly popular during coldest time of year of Christmas.

SaskScraper · #**4554** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 1:23 PM**

...

Acajack · #**4555** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 1:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by isaidso

I assumed like most people that Hudson Bay would flat line into irrelevance or bankruptcy but they've made an astonishing comeback over the last 5 years.

They still have a long way to go renovating their Canadian stores. I don't believe the renos of the downtown Ottawa store on Rideau are even close to being done. (Will stand corrected if I am mistaken.)

They haven't touched their Gatineau store at all except to change the outdoor sign from "La Baie" to "LA BAIE D'HUDSON". I actually think they are wondering whether or not we're worth it. There is a brand-new Simons in the same mall and it's stealing most of the department store-level fashion business from The Bay in Gatineau at the moment.

WhipperSnapper · #**4556** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 2:20 PM**

Europe has blander retailers than Hudson's Bay. The Achilles heal is their service which, while improvement, still sucks. I'm sure that's a Canadian exclusive though.

Everyone knows of the downtown Toronto location. Most HBC stores I have gone to are in pretty desperate need of a refresher.

flipv · #**4557** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 4:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

Europe has blander retailers than Hudson's Bay. The Achilles heal is their service which, while improvement, still sucks. I'm sure that's a Canadian exclusive though.

Everyone knows of the downtown Toronto location. Most HBC stores I have gone to are in pretty desperate need of a refresher.

They've refreshed key locations first (in Toronto the first three were Yorkdale/Queen/Sherway).. I'm not even sure if some of the more suburban ones (STC/Erin Mills) have even been refreshed yet.

Makes sense.. Spend money where you make money.

esquire · #**4558** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 4:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

They haven't touched their Gatineau store at all except to change the outdoor sign from "La Baie" to "LA BAIE D'HUDSON". I actually think they are wondering whether or not we're worth it. There is a brand-new Simons in the same mall and it's stealing most of the department store-level fashion business from The Bay in Gatineau at the moment.

At least that's something. The DT Winnipeg store still has the old "The Bay" signage which makes it look even more pathetic and forlorn than it already was.

As for the Amsterdam store, it would be a weird feeling to see The Bay in Europe. But hey, between Tim Hortons and now The Bay, it's nice to see us actually exporting retail products. Something has to fill the gap now that Blackberry is pretty well dead.

Trevor3 · #**4559** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 5:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

At least that's something. The DT Winnipeg store still has the old "The Bay" signage which makes it look even more pathetic and forlorn than it already was.

As for the Amsterdam store, it would be a weird feeling to see The Bay in Europe. But hey, between Tim Hortons and now The Bay, it's nice to see us actually exporting retail products. Something has to fill the gap now that Blackberry is pretty well dead.

It's kind of strange how history works - the company was founded on selling Canadian products (Ok, North American furs) to Europeans. Now it's putting stores in Europe. It seems like something that would/should have happened long ago considering the initial role of the company.

craneSpotter · #**4560** Posted **Sep 9, 2016, 7:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Courtenay on vancouver island has a costco with a population of 25,000 and a metro population of 55,000 but it does serve Vancouver Island north where there are a lot of resorts and fishing resorts etc. The closest one to that is Nanaimo about an hour south and the only other one on the island is in Langford for The Victoria Region.

The Comox Valley RD (Coutenay/Comox/Cumberland) has 65,000. It also has - 30 minutes north - the Campbell River area (Strathcona) with ~45,000. So that's 110k + in the immediate region for the Costco.

Plus, as you mention, the tourists/resorts/fishing lodges as far up as Port Hardy.

http://www.bcstats.gov.bc.ca/Files/7...nEstimates.pdf

Costco has been searching for land for a second Greater Victoria location for several years ... sometimes the right land, in the right location, is just not available.