Canadian Retail Thread

[isaidso]

Loblaw's new flagship store at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto just opened. I actually chopped about 90% of the photos, but this store is something else so I hope you don't mind that I posted so many.

All photos courtesy of Taller, Better

It goes on and on and on, but you get the idea. This store is a 'foodie' wet dream. Finally, Canada has a food emporium that's second to none. Loblaws needed an update and they've certainly delivered. Hopefully, this is just a template to be repeated across Canada.

[Echowinds]

That's actually one of the most impressive supermarket I have ever seen. It actually does the Maple Leaf Gardens justice, even though it is completely unrelated to hockey. I guess the rink in the same complex takes care of that though.

Certainly a lot better use of an old arena than some of the treatment found in the US.

As for Izzue, it is a brand underneath the Hong Kong fashion conglomerate I.T. First store outside of the Chinese sphere (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao).

[YYCguys]

There must have been a flurry of activity going on at Loblaws/Maple Leaf Gardens over the last few months as it seemed that NOTHING was happening over the summer at all!

[miketoronto]

I don't like the bare concrete of the Loblaws Maple Leaf store. It looks to dark and not classy at all.

[quote]It goes on and on and on, but you get the idea. This store is a 'foodie' wet dream. Finally, Canada has a food emporium that's second to none. Loblaws needed an update and they've certainly delivered. Hopefully, this is just a template to be repeated across Canada. [/img]

Toronto already has a good emporium, the St. Lawrence Market. Which is much more interesting than a supermarket.

[miketoronto]

In other retail news that does not revolve around Canadian malls or main streets opening carbon copy chain stores which really don't add anything to our retail landscape, a more exciting development happened in London, Ontario.

London Ontario's family run local downtown department store, Kingsmills, has opened another addition to their legendary downtown store.
The new addition adds a modern contemporary home section to the store, with a more urban downtown vibe.

This is Kingsmills second or third expansion within the last 10 or so years, and the store is also celebrating 145 years this year.

Who says a local downtown store can't thrive?

Kingsmills really shows what we should be seeing more of in Canada. The growth of our locally homegrown retail stores, and not the celebration of crappy chain stores we can find anywhere in the world.

Kingsmills could show the big boys how to do things better, as the big chain department stores keep downsizing.

The new Contemporary Home Section, located on an expansion of the main floor, of the four story store.
Photos thanks to Kingsmills.com

[haligonia]

I awoke to great retail news in the Halifax forum this morning:

Originally Posted by someone123

According to ANS, there will be an Apple store opening soon in the Halifax Shopping Centre.

ANS is short for All Nova Scotia, a local subscription-based news website.

[SpongeG]

Target announces first 24 stores in Canada; initial openings all in Ontario

Minneapolis-based Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) on Thursday announced the location of the first 24 of the 125 to 135 stores it plans to open in Canada beginning next year.

All of the first two dozen are at malls in various communities in Ontario.

"We are excited to announce the location of these first 24 Target stores . . . ," said Target Canada president Tony Fisher.

"In addition to providing Canadian guests with an exceptional shopping experience, Target looks forward to continuing our strong reputation of being a good neighbour in the Canadian communities in which we will do business."

Target has purchased the leasehold interests of 189 sites currently operated by Zellers Inc. and about $10 million to $11 million will be invested to remodel each facility.

Each location will employ between 150 to 200 workers, with hiring slated to being in 2012.

The announcement came on the same day that Target lowered its earnings expectations after a disappointing December in which U.S. consumers waited until the last minute to shop.

Revenue at stores open at least a year rose 1.6 per cent. That missed analyst expectations for a 3.1 per cent increase, according to Thomson Reuters.

Target's stock fell 3.4 per cent, or $1.70, to US$48.30 in afternoon trading.

Revenue at stores open at least a year is considered a key measure of a retailer's financial health because it excludes volatility from stores that open or close.

Strong grocery and beauty product sales offset weakness in electronics, movies, books and music, the company said. In addition, sales and traffic were stronger in the week before Christmas thanks to last-minute shopping.

Total revenue for the five weeks ended Dec. 31 rose 2.6 per cent to $10.14 billion.

The company now expects fourth-quarter earnings of $1.35 to $1.43 per share. That compares with prior guidance of $1.34 to $1.53 per share. Analysts had $1.48 per share.

Target Corp. said it expects revenue in stores open at least a year to rise in the low- to mid-single digit percentage range.

Following is a list of malls where the first Target stores in Canada will open, grouped by community:

...

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/target-dece...192743111.html

[manny_santos]

Did anyone watch Marketplace on CBC last night? They were talking about "Canada's Worst Customer Service". They "awarded" Zellers with this dubious distinction, although this is based on the opinions of people surveyed in a Leger Marketing study - and we all know any study is prone to bias and error.

The big surprise for me was that Canadian Tire was awarded second-worst customer service. They're not perfect but I find they are better than Wal-Mart, Zellers, and Rona. Their employees at least seem to know their products better than some other retailers.

Last night's program did smack of sensationalism though. I don't think it's fair to single out Zellers for bad customer service when customer service levels can vary widely from one store location to another across Canada, and there are often local competitors, some of which can be far superior to chains, and some of which can have service far worse than any chain.

What was interesting though was how polite Canadians are when confronted with bad service. They tend to just walk out without saying anything. Personally, I usually say something without making a scene; I realize that the front-line employees are often not personally responsible for certain problems, but at the same time someone needs to know.

[bulliver]

^ Ha ha, I in fact did watch that. That is, it was on whilst I was tooling around on the computer. Pretty brutal that Zellers would not refund payment for an obviously used coffee maker sold as new.

[Coldrsx]

Edmonton leads country in retail construction


BY BILL MAH, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM JANUARY 19, 2012 3:06 PM



STORYPHOTOS ( 1 )



More retail space is under construction in Edmonton than anywhere else in the nation, says a new report by commercial real estate firm CBRE.
Photograph by: Ed Kaiser, Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON - More retail space is under construction in Edmonton than anywhere else in the nation, says a new report by commercial real estate firm CBRE.

“This energy-based economy is really driving a lot of things in this city from residential construction to industrial demand and when there’s low unemployment, people are buying so retailers are strong,” said Dave Young, senior vice-president and managing director of CBRE’s Edmonton office.

“Will the other shoe fall? I don’t know, but right now and going into 2012, we’re pretty bullish on all markets and retail definitely will be strong for the coming year.”

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/busin...621/story.html

[MolsonExport]

Canadian Tire deserves the Award. Terrible place, terrible service. I am amazed that anybody shops there. Prices are lousy, service is worse. the place is a messy maze. What is the attraction?

[SpongeG]

Canadian Tire is awful, its hard to find someone who works there and if you do they don't know much or say this is not my area and say go find somene over there

the newer stores are so big too you can walk forever before you find anyone only to have them look at you like they have no clue what you just asked

[jlousa]

I love CT, their service sucks but I know what I want when I head there. Think them buying Marks was a great synergy play. Always thought they should get Tim Hortons on board and have mini Tims stores inside them.

I can just picture a line of hipsters eating tidbits and pushing a shopping cart with rabbit ears/welcome mats/ and boxes of pot of gold around the store in furry hats trying to find an employee to take down a canoe from a shelf 20ft up.

[MolsonExport]

I've always been puzzled as to why people would buy chocolate (pot of gold) and/or cookies/foodstuffs from Canuckian Tire given that the place vaguely smells like rubber, iron, and motor oil.

[Black Star]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Canadian Tire is awful, its hard to find someone who works there and if you do they don't know much or say this is not my area and say go find somene over there

the newer stores are so big too you can walk forever before you find anyone only to have them look at you like they have no clue what you just asked

I have to agree with some of the assessments here. I bought a stationary bike in the fall and it took the kid 1/2 and hour to locate in the back! Just recently I bought my boys a mini bike only because it was on sale and again it took a good 1/2 hour to find the right key to open the lock to get the bike!! I do like Canadian Tire...but service there and in many retail sectors is subpar.

[Acajack]

It is comforting to see that Canadian Tire seems to have the same service standard across the country!

That said, Canadian Tire's popularity in spite of it all comes from the fact that it has the most amazing variety of practical stuff that you just might need one day. If you need item X for your house, car, cottage, etc., they almost certainly have it. People from other countries I know just love Canadian Tire for this reason. They tell me: if you think of some obscure thigamajig that you need, betcha Canadian Tire will have it.

So although their customer service sucks, I'd say the purchasing division (or whatever you might call it) is top-notch.

[MolsonExport]

^I tend to go to Lowe's for Hardware and yard stuff, Costco for most everything else, and my Honda dealer for car maintenance. I just don't see a need to subject myself to the extraordinarily poor service (reaches a new low in the retail environment) of CannedTire.

If you dislike Canadian Tire, here is a site for you: http://www.canadiantiresucks.net/

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Canadian Tire deserves the Award. Terrible place, terrible service. I am amazed that anybody shops there. Prices are lousy, service is worse. the place is a messy maze. What is the attraction?

Nostalgia combined with ignorance of other options.

They occasionally have something no other competitor has (I got my snow thrower there, no one else locally carried the brand) but beyond that they're a vastly overpriced, horribly laid out, confusing mess of "what kind of store are we going to be this year" kind of place. Jack of all trades, master of none. They try to cram so many different things into a single store that they rarely actually have much selection for a given item, or if they do, the one you want isn't in stock. Of course this applies to much of the retail landscape today, CT just exemplifies it. And it's where everyone over 60 shops.

Disclaimer: I don't work on cars nor do I need a 850-count socket set for anything else. I get the impression that car mechanic types might find CT more useful than I, so for those people it might make sense. Otherwise, CT was great - 40 years ago. These days I really don't understand how they stay in business (other than old people).

[Winnipegger@Heart]

They are this half-ass general merchandise retailer that makes money, so people like it; I don't probably because I do not do repairs to vehicles, and for lighting, bathroom or kitchen hardware, home decor, I visit specialized shops or even Home Depot, Canadian Tires has a little bit of this, a bit of that, nothing stylish. I do think it is time for a logo update though.

[youngregina]

We are getting an Aeropostale in Regina!! haha.