General Retail News - Page 135

rocketphish · #**2681** Posted **Nov 20, 2019, 1:51 PM**

Lowe’s closing 34 stores across Canada, including Brockville and Cornwall

Ted Raymond, Newstalk 580 CFRA
Published Wednesday, November 20, 2019 6:27AM EST
Last Updated Wednesday, November 20, 2019 8:18AM EST

OTTAWA — Lowe’s says it will be closing 34 “underperforming” stores in the new year as it seeks to “optimize” its network. The closures will affect Lowe’s, RONA, and Reno-Depot brands.

Two of the stores are in eastern Ontario.

The Lowe’s in Cornwall, at 950 Brookdale Ave., and the RONA in Brockville, at 550 Stewart Boul., will close by Jan. 31, 2020.

"While making decisions that impact our associates and their families is never easy, closing underperforming stores is a necessary step in our plan to ensure the long-term stability and growth of our Canadian business," Tony Cioffi, Interim President of Lowe's Canada, said in a press release. "We are taking decisive action to build a healthy business which will provide us with the flexibility to reinvest in our future growth.”

There's no word yet on how many jobs will be affected, but the company says eligible employees will be given the opportunity to transfer to other stores.

These closures come just one year after Lowe's announced it was shuttering 31 Canadian locations.

RONA stores are facing the brunt of the cloures. 26 of the 34 announced closures are RONAs. North Carolina-based Lowe's had purchased RONA in 2016 in a deal valued at $3.2 billion.

With files from The Canadian Press.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/lowe-s-closing...luding-brockville-and-cornwall-1.4693697

rocketphish · #**2682** Posted **Nov 20, 2019, 1:52 PM**

Lowes press release:

https://www.lowescanada.ca/en/news/lowes...nderperforming-stores-across-the-country

Radster · #**2683** Posted **Nov 20, 2019, 3:50 PM**

Seems to me like RONA stores were doing just fine until Lowe's acquired them. Was it not a made in Quebec success story? Maybe Quebecers were turned off the fact that their beloved home improvement store was now owned by an American company?

p_xavier · #**2684** Posted **Nov 20, 2019, 4:42 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radster

Seems to me like RONA stores were doing just fine until Lowe's acquired them. Was it not a made in Quebec success story? Maybe Quebecers were turned off the fact that their beloved home improvement store was now owned by an American company?

Yes and yes. Québec's premier even told people to stop shopping there.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/136...erie-emplois-transfert-acheter-quebecois

Harley613 · #**2685** Posted **Nov 21, 2019, 4:37 AM**

Wow we are lucky to be keeping all of the locations in Ottawa-Gatineau. I'm surprised the Innes Road/417 location isn't being shut down, there is a larger Home Depot across the street and a big new Lowes twelve minutes away in Orleans. It always seems pretty quiet in that store.

Capital Shaun · #**2686** Posted **Nov 21, 2019, 1:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harley613

Wow we are lucky to be keeping all of the locations in Ottawa-Gatineau. I'm surprised the Innes Road/417 location isn't being shut down, there is a larger Home Depot across the street and a big new Lowes twelve minutes away in Orleans. It always seems pretty quiet in that store.

I'm a bit surprised too. That Lowes is not as busy as the Home Depot across the street. But I do see a lot of professional contractors parked at Lowes so maybe that's part of what is keeping that location afloat.

kwoldtimer · #**2687** Posted **Nov 21, 2019, 10:44 PM**

Just to note that the Adonis supermarket on St Laurent opened today. It's quite nice.

DogsWithJobs · #**2688** Posted **Nov 22, 2019, 7:07 PM**

How does T&T compare to the Green Fresh Supermarket that is already in Vanier? It seems to have a pretty good selection for Asian groceries.

And would adonis compete price wise with freshco?
I basically never went back to loblaws once I realized how much cheaper freshco is.(I've never been to the food basics so I don't know where it falls price wise)

JCL · #**2689** Posted **Nov 22, 2019, 11:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogsWithJobs

How does T&T compare to the Green Fresh Supermarket that is already in Vanier? It seems to have a pretty good selection for Asian groceries.

My mom has been to both Chinese grocery stores (T&T and Green Fresh).

In some ways, she prefers the quality of the vegetables at Green Fresh compared to T&T.

kwoldtimer · #**2690** Posted **Nov 23, 2019, 1:42 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogsWithJobs

How does T&T compare to the Green Fresh Supermarket that is already in Vanier? It seems to have a pretty good selection for Asian groceries.

And would adonis compete price wise with freshco?
I basically never went back to loblaws once I realized how much cheaper freshco is.(I've never been to the food basics so I don't know where it falls price wise)

Adonis would be more expensive than freshco, I would say based on what I saw yesterday. I thought it might be a bit pricier than Loblaws. The overall atmosphere is reasonably upscale.

Truenorth00 · #**2691** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 1:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DogsWithJobs

And would adonis compete price wise with freshco?
I basically never went back to loblaws once I realized how much cheaper freshco is.(I've never been to the food basics so I don't know where it falls price wise)

Food Basics is the discount chain for Metro (who also owns Adonis). Just like Freshco is the Sobeys discount chain.

Adonis is expensive and higher end. It's good for Middle Eastern and European products. But everything else is more expensive. I don't even think they are competitive with Mid-East Food Market. But that store will undoubtedly suffer a fair bit from Adonis being down the street.

Metro has basically taken the hi-lo strategy in this area. Food Basics for price sensitive shoppers. Adonis for higher income and some specific ethnic communities. No mid-tier Metro (which used to be in the same plaza years ago).

Acajack · #**2692** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 2:17 AM**

At least in Gatineau I find Adonis' prices to be quite good. Prepared meal items have very good daily specials. And the price of filet mignon is the best in town.

phil235 · #**2693** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 12:31 PM**

Petsmart at Lansdowne closing in January. I’m surprised it took that long. They really need to find a more appropriate tenant for that spot at the front of the stadium.

Radster · #**2694** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 3:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acajack

At least in Gatineau I find Adonis' prices to be quite good. Prepared meal items have very good daily specials. And the price of filet mignon is the best in town.

Indeed, I find the Adonis in Gatineau has very low prices, same or lower than Super C (which is also owned by Metro and QC equivalent of Food Basics). Items such as fresh fruits and veggies, deli items like cheese, cold cuts, sausages, olives, to name a few, are regularly priced lower than any other grocery store in Gatineau. Yes they have mid-market stuff as well, so in a way, to me Adonis has the best of both worlds. Plus, I can find a nice selection of Polish food there which is reasonably priced and helps me avoid a trip to an Ottawa Polish store now and then.

Radster · #**2695** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 3:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by phil235

Petsmart at Lansdowne closing in January. I’m surprised it took that long. They really need to find a more appropriate tenant for that spot at the front of the stadium.

Lansdowne needs a good ramen place. PetSmart space is too big obviously. But it would make so much sense to have a ramen restaurant there. Not only is it a super in demand food now in the city, but imagine how popular it would be on cold game days/evenings. People crave a hot filling soup in cool weather.

Acajack · #**2696** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 3:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radster

Indeed, I find the Adonis in Gatineau has very low prices, same or lower than Super C (which is also owned by Metro and QC equivalent of Food Basics). Items such as fresh fruits and veggies, deli items like cheese, cold cuts, sausages, olives, to name a few, are regularly priced lower than any other grocery store in Gatineau. Yes they have mid-market stuff as well, so in a way, to me Adonis has the best of both worlds. Plus, I can find a nice selection of Polish food there which is reasonably priced and helps me avoid a trip to an Ottawa Polish store now and then.

I actually thought that Adonis would be more expensive initially, given that's it's a bit of a niche store, but we keep going back because of both selection and prices.

phil235 · #**2697** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 4:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radster

Lansdowne needs a good ramen place. PetSmart space is too big obviously. But it would make so much sense to have a ramen restaurant there. Not only is it a super in demand food now in the city, but imagine how popular it would be on cold game days/evenings. People crave a hot filling soup in cool weather.

That's not a bad idea, given that every one that I've seen has a big line out the door. It's a bit weird that the fast-food places attached to the arena haven't been able to make a go of it. I would have thought that the huge rush on game days would go a long way to making them sustainable, but apparently not.

I think that they made a big mistake putting the banks out on the street and burying the quick-stop food places deeper in the site. There just isn't enough dedicated traffic on non-event days, whereas Bank St. is always busy.

I also think the Redblacks/67s/Fury(RIP) made a big mistake by not putting their team store in a more prominent place. They had it inside the arena at first, and then put it in one of the small, cheap units along the side of the arena. While it would be at the expense of rental revenue, I think that they should put a bigger, destination type store somewhere along Bank. Petsmart would be a good location (whoever thought that a pet store overlooking the field at the main entrance to the stadium was a good idea should not be in retail), but I think that location is better for a large bar/restaurant if the partnership agreement allows it. RealSports would have been a better fit there than in the Market.

Horus · #**2698** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 4:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Radster

Lansdowne needs a good ramen place. PetSmart space is too big obviously. But it would make so much sense to have a ramen restaurant there. Not only is it a super in demand food now in the city, but imagine how popular it would be on cold game days/evenings. People crave a hot filling soup in cool weather.

You could have made the same argument for South St Burger and the burrito place that had been at Lansdowne before. In my observation, both places seemed to get hopelessly bogged down with football crowds, and were otherwise deserted outside of game days. I'm not sure a ramen place, particularly if tucked away inside the Lansdowne complex, would fare any better.

Radster · #**2699** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 6:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horus

You could have made the same argument for South St Burger and the burrito place that had been at Lansdowne before. In my observation, both places seemed to get hopelessly bogged down with football crowds, and were otherwise deserted outside of game days. I'm not sure a ramen place, particularly if tucked away inside the Lansdowne complex, would fare any better.

True, however ramen is very popular in Ottawa now, quite a few places have lineups to get in regularly, whereas burrito and burger places do not. Hence why I think a ramen place at Lansdowne would work not only on game days, but most other days too.

Jamaican-Phoenix · #**2700** Posted **Nov 26, 2019, 8:45 PM**

Oh man, if we could get an Ippudo or a Santouka in Ottawa that'd be amazing.