General Retail News

[Uhuniau]

The complete mess that the Bank Street "opening" does to bus transit on the weekends makes it more difficult and less likely for me to do any of my shopping and errands there.

Oh well.

[rocketphish]

175 MacArthur Avenue was purchased by 2815433 Ontario Inc. from Laurentian Lanes Ltd. for $6,650,000 or $246 per square foot. It is improved with a single-storey commercial building that was previously utilized as a bowling alley and is to be converted into a grocery store.

http://www.juteaujohnsoncomba.com/newsletters/2021/July-2021-Newsletter-May-Sales.pdf

[MichelKazan]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

175 MacArthur Avenue was purchased by 2815433 Ontario Inc. from Laurentian Lanes Ltd. for $6,650,000 or $246 per square foot. It is improved with a single-storey commercial building that was previously utilized as a bowling alley and is to be converted into a grocery store.

http://www.juteaujohnsoncomba.com/newsletters/2021/July-2021-Newsletter-May-Sales.pdf

We talk about all these areas that could use a grocery store (most of Centretown, Little Italy, most of Hintonburg) yet we get another grocery store in an area that already has grocery stores.

[c_speed3108]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

175 MacArthur Avenue was purchased by 2815433 Ontario Inc. from Laurentian Lanes Ltd. for $6,650,000 or $246 per square foot. It is improved with a single-storey commercial building that was previously utilized as a bowling alley and is to be converted into a grocery store.

http://www.juteaujohnsoncomba.com/newsletters/2021/July-2021-Newsletter-May-Sales.pdf

I wonder if this will be a new location for the Green Fresh Supermarket in Eastview Plaza. I can't think who else it would be.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MichelKazan

We talk about all these areas that could use a grocery store (most of Centretown, Little Italy, most of Hintonburg) yet we get another grocery store in an area that already has grocery stores.

This isn't a new grocery store. It's the Green Fresh Supermarket from Eastview Plaza moving to the old bowling alley before Eastview is demolished for redevelopment.

Centretown (or, the Escarpment District) should be getting a new grocery store at Moon on Queen and Lyon within a year or so. Little Italy will get a specialty Italian grocery store at Sala San Marco (half the space being converted fairly soon) and another is planned in the redevelopment of the Beech Street parking lot (probably Farm Boy, but that could take years).

Hintonburg could get one at Trinity at Bayview (again Farm Boy), but again, that won't be for years unfortunately. They do have a few smaller stores selling different things, like Nu, Hintonburg Market, Parkdale Market, Rexall (though that could be redeveloped) and at least one butcher, so they're in a good spot as is.

We've definitely seen some improvement in central neighborhoods over the last decade, with many food deserts being eliminated, and that should continue within the next decade.

[J.OT13]

'A good run': Ottawa-based Quickie Convenience Stores sold to MacEwen Petroleum

David Sali, OBJ
November 2, 2021

Nearly five decades after opening the first Quickie location, Arnold Kimmel is leaving the business he turned into an iconic fixture of the local retail scene. Photo by Mark Holleron

An iconic local retailer’s five-decade run as an independent entity has come to an end.

Quickie Convenience Stores, which operates 51 retail stores and 22 gas stations across eastern Ontario and western Quebec, has been acquired by Maxville-based MacEwen Petroleum, the companies said on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.

Quickie co-founder Arnold Kimmel recently told OBJ that after nearly 50 years in the industry, he was ready to wind down his career. His business partner, Larry Hartman, has already retired, while his two children are successful executives in Toronto who have no interest in taking over the company.

“It’s been a good run,” the 75-year-old businessman and philanthropist said. “There’s no succession (plan), unfortunately. It’s time to move on.”

Kimmel said the parallels between his business and MacEwen – a family-owned enterprise that occupies a similar geographic footprint – made joining forces with the fellow eastern Ontario firm the right move.

“I have to say, it’s the absolute perfect fit,” he said.

Since the first Quickie location opened at Shoppers City East in 1973, the stores have become a familiar fixture of the Ottawa retail landscape.

After starting as a competitor to emerging convenience store chains such as 7-Eleven and Mac’s, Quickie evolved into a multi-faceted operation that sold gas and forged affiliations with fast-food giants such as Subway and McDonald’s. The chain’s dealer-owned network of stores now employs about 300 people.

The company eventually grew into the dominant convenience store player in the region, buying out 7-Eleven’s six Ottawa locations in 2009 while expanding across eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

The firm also gained widespread recognition through initiatives such as the Tour de Quickie, a charity bicycle race it sponsored for several years in the late 1980s and 1990s that raised more than $2 million for local hospitals.

“I don’t think there’s a town that we’re in where we don’t make a significant contribution to something in the town,” Kimmel said. “It’s one of the cornerstones of our business is supporting the community. If the community supports us, we have to give back.”

Founded in 1976, MacEwen now has a network of 57 company-controlled and 85 dealer-managed locations across Ontario that sell fuel and operate convenience stores under the County Line banner.

In a statement, the company said it will integrate Quickie's familiar red-and-white logo throughout its combined retail network and plans to keep adding new locations.

“The Quickie brand has a strong legacy in Ottawa and eastern Ontario, and we are excited to expand the brand’s presence and impact with our customers,” president Peter MacEwen said in a statement.

https://obj.ca/index.php/article/local/r...onvenience-stores-sold-macewen-petroleum

[Dzingle Bells]

Wow - I was today years old when I learned that The Quickie was an Ottawa thing!

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Dzingle Bells

Wow - I was today years old when I learned that The Quickie was an Ottawa thing!

You and me both.

[Uhuniau]

I swear, my brain is so Ottawashed now that I see convenience stores as "Quickies" anywhere.

[DEWLine]

I never knew that Quickie Convenience Stores started here.

[rocketphish]

Companies eye 40 new pot shops in Ottawa as business group raises concerns

Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Publishing date: Jan 10, 2022 • 4 hours ago • 3 minute read

The year has started with dozens of outstanding applications for new pot shops across Ottawa as one business group draws the province’s attention to the impact on commercial districts.

Cannabis retailers have dotted main streets and moved into suburban storefronts over the past two years.

As of early Monday afternoon, there were more than 40 applications in progress for new stores across Ottawa, according to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, the agency in charge of regulating cannabis retail.

There were 27 proposed locations with Ottawa addresses, plus another three locations with addresses in Stittsville, one in Kanata, eight in Nepean and three in Orléans.

Local company Ouid is looking to add three more stores “and hopefully more,” owner Lauren Tansley said.

Ouid, which has a partnership with Huntington Properties, is planning a store in Westboro and two in Stittsville after opening its flagship location in Barrhaven last year.

Tansley said the spread of cannabis stores shouldn’t make people assume the cannabis retail market is creating riches in Ottawa.

“It’s not what people think it is. It’s still retail. I think people thought it was a golden ticket,” Tansley said. “It’s a hard business and you have to be a good operator and be smart about it.”

Tansley said it’s hard for stores to differentiate from each other when they’re forced to buy products from the same supplier, the Ontario Cannabis Store.

“You really have to fall to service and brand. That’s the only way to set yourself apart,” Tansley said.

Tokyo Smoke, a retail brand owned by Smiths Falls-based Canopy Growth, has at least four new store locations under pursuit in and around the downtown, doubling the number of Ottawa locations where it has authorization to operate.

Opening the door to cannabis retail stores was one of the first big decisions in the current term of city council. The December 2018 endorsement led to an explosion of pot shops across the capital.

The city has little authority over new locations, unless a land-use amendment is required. That’s the case for at least one proposed cannabis shop at 2786 Lancaster Rd., which is the subject of a rezoning application. Local company Pakalolo is planning a store there.

The umbrella organization for Ottawa’s business improvement areas has been busy responding to COVID-19 issues, but the proliferation of cannabis retail stores in the city has been on its radar, the group’s executive said Monday.

The Ottawa Coalition of BIAs has voiced its concerns with Queen’s Park.

Michelle Groulx, executive director of the coalition, made a presentation in November to the provincial government’s standing committee on general government.

While the coalition supports cannabis retail in the BIAs, Groulx expressed worry about government creating a buzzkill when it comes to restricting the looks of storefronts and the variety of permitted merchandise.

Groulx asked for municipalities to have more power in deciding retail locations.

“Where there are several regulated retailers selling the same brands and products, provided by the same source, there is a struggle,” Groulx told the committee. “Allowing the municipality to prevent the saturation of a restricted and regulated retail outlet will protect the variety and vibrancy of a neighbourhood.”

Groulx also voiced concern about the future of storefronts if the cannabis retail market can’t sustain the growing number of locations and competition.

“Cannabis retailers have expressed deep concern about survival through this saturation,” Groulx said. “This looming bust will impact our economy and main streets in the long term. Recovery from a series of empty spaces on a main street is difficult enough after facing a pandemic over the past 20 months.”

Tansley said it could be beneficial for the industry to locate stores farther away from each other, giving smaller operations a chance to succeed in the market.

“We would love to have a slice of our hometown in Ottawa and do really well in that space,” Tansley said.

[email protected]
twitter.com/JonathanWilling

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...ottawa-as-business-group-raises-concerns

[Davis137]

Clearly none of these developers or stakeholders aren't worried about market over-saturation then...

Also, at the end of the day, ALL of the dispensaries either buy from OCS, so there is little-to-no variation in pricing. I guess it is a matter of the experience of the storefront that determines repeat customers in person (perhaps how the staff curate the various products makes the biggest impression).

[MichelKazan]

Not sure how reliable a Facebook post is but word is that the Independent Grocer in Hazeldean Mall will be closing in July.

https://www.facebook.com/1512729583/posts/10226412478247599/?d=n

[waterloowarrior]

Originally Posted by MichelKazan

Not sure how reliable a Facebook post is but word is that the Independent Grocer in Hazeldean Mall will be closing in July.

https://www.facebook.com/1512729583/posts/10226412478247599/?d=n

Mall looks pretty empty, maybe a redevelopment is coming up...Regional Group bought the property in 2019
https://commercialavailabilities.regionalgroup.com/commercial-property/ca/on/ottawa/hazeldean-mall/

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by MichelKazan

Not sure how reliable a Facebook post is but word is that the Independent Grocer in Hazeldean Mall will be closing in July.

https://www.facebook.com/1512729583/posts/10226412478247599/?d=n

End of an era. Spent my early years in Bridlewood. That YIG started out life as a Steinberg.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by TransitZilla

End of an era. Spent my early years in Bridlewood. That YIG started out life as a Steinberg.

Grew up in GC myself. Sad to see it go. With the mega Good Life opening soon, I would have to think someone will move into the space.

[DTcrawler]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

Grew up in GC myself. Sad to see it go. With the mega Good Life opening soon, I would have to think someone will move into the space.

The new Goodlife opened a week or so before the latest lockdown. It's pretty nice.

[SkeggsEggs]

I wonder if it's just Laura's YIG closing and if another franchised YIG will open. They renovated the store this year and I noticed they never put up a physical sign outside with her name up, just a 2D one in one of the windows.

Seems odd to renovate and re-fresh just to then close. If not another YIG franchise maybe another Loblaws brand store, like a T&T? About the same size as the T&T in Waterloo.

[MountainView]

Originally Posted by SkeggsEggs

I wonder if it's just Laura's YIG closing and if another franchised YIG will open. They renovated the store this year and I noticed they never put up a physical sign outside with her name up, just a 2D one in one of the windows.

Seems odd to renovate and re-fresh just to then close. If not another YIG franchise maybe another Loblaws brand store, like a T&T? About the same size as the T&T in Waterloo.

I know that a few of the YIG contracts are up in the Greater Ottawa area and not all will be renewed. I know of one location (not this one) remaining a YIG but under a different owner. Loblaw is trying to move away from YIGs (they want to be all corporate owned) but the footprint of a lot of the locations are either too small for a full Loblaws banner store or are very close to each other (i.e. Merivale YIG/Loblaws, Barrhaven YIG/Loblaws).

My guess is Hazeldean is transferred to a different owner and operated as a YIG... or as you mentioned, perhaps another Loblaw corporate banner store.

[J.OT13]

That's too bad. I much prefer YIG's to Law-blah.