General Retail News

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by phil235

How is it context-specific?

I wasn’t referring you specifically but people are feigning concern for businesses and workers during a discussion relating to the convoy. Now switch the conversation to challenge things like telework, government gutting the downtown and job flight out of Ottawa because of it, online shopping (Amazon etc.)…consider which of these has more catastrophic an impact yet watch how much concern there isn’t for those poor businesses when these are discussed. These discussions have been had numerous times over the years.

[Admiral Nelson]

Fascinating to summarize your many contributions to this topic regarding the Stella Luna affair, YOWflier:

1. It's pointless to vote with your wallet because a business owner would be unaffected due to their personal wealth
2. It's actually wrong to vote with your wallet because the drop in business would lead to layoffs (I guess no other business will expand to fill the dessert void)
3. It's hypocritical to care at all about downtown businesses affected by the convoy unless you also want to compel the former office workforce to lose all telework flexibility (because reasons)
4. It was wrong to vote with your wallet because the business owner is not just a successful business owner but actually a good person (trust me bruh) and has the support of the business community (including those downtown closed for the duration of the occupation? Press X to doubt)
5. Introduction of a Canada Proud talking point about how pandemic restrictions akshually were created only to divide us and did not represent the best advice of the public health community at the time (aka Trudeau bad)
6. Concession that although we can protest with our wallets, businesses should actually not experience these consequences from their bad behaviour because it would be "cancel cultist"

[skyscraperaccount]

If I use the block function to ignore ridiculous whataboutists, does that mean I'm a cancel cultist?

Sign me up.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by Admiral Nelson

Fascinating to summarize your many contributions to this topic regarding the Stella Luna affair, YOWflier:

1. It's pointless to vote with your wallet because a business owner would be unaffected due to their personal wealth
2. It's actually wrong to vote with your wallet because the drop in business would lead to layoffs (I guess no other business will expand to fill the dessert void)
3. It's hypocritical to care at all about downtown businesses affected by the convoy unless you also want to compel the former office workforce to lose all telework flexibility (because reasons)
4. It was wrong to vote with your wallet because the business owner is not just a successful business owner but actually a good person (trust me bruh) and has the support of the business community (including those downtown closed for the duration of the occupation? Press X to doubt)
5. Introduction of a Canada Proud talking point about how pandemic restrictions akshually were created only to divide us and did not represent the best advice of the public health community at the time (aka Trudeau bad)
6. Concession that although we can protest with our wallets, businesses should actually not experience these consequences from their bad behaviour because it would be "cancel cultist"

You were #1 on my predicted respondents list and true to form

[movebyleap]

Stella Luna has the best ice cream in town. What a shame that it's closing! I hope it will keep its Bank Street shop open! (Sorry - I'm a little late to the party as I've been out of town - but I'm just gutted that this business might not make it!)

[phil235]

Originally Posted by YOWflier

I wasn’t referring you specifically but people are feigning concern for businesses and workers during a discussion relating to the convoy. Now switch the conversation to challenge things like telework, government gutting the downtown and job flight out of Ottawa because of it, online shopping (Amazon etc.)…consider which of these has more catastrophic an impact yet watch how much concern there isn’t for those poor businesses when these are discussed. These discussions have been had numerous times over the years.

Fair enough. I think I’m pretty consistent in my concern for downtown (and in my patronizing downtown business). As I’ve said before, without a vibrant downtown, Ottawa is a poor man’s Mississauga. Too many people in Ottawa just don’t get that.

[Ottawacurious]

NCC bought the old chapters downtown. Excited to see where they go with it!

[kwoldtimer]

Was in to Carlingwood yesterday and see that they've lost another shop (the sock store) and a jeweller, but added a "rolled icecream" place. The Timmies was hopping (must be the Dutchies and Walnut Crunch!). The mall is becoming more a place to eat than to shop.

[rocketphish]

Bell Canada strikes partnership with Best Buy to rebrand The Source stores as Best Buy Express

Alexandra Posadzki, Globe and Mail
January 18, 2024 | Published 22 minutes ago

Consumer electronics retailer The Source is getting a new name – again.

BCE Inc.’s Bell Canada and Best Buy Canada Ltd. have struck a partnership that will see 165 The Source stores – once known as RadioShack – rebranded as Best Buy Express.

Bell and Best Buy will invest in updating the stores and expanding their product selection, customer service and employee training, the two companies said in a joint statement Thursday. There were nearly 300 The Source stores at last report; the stores not included in the partnership will close in 2024, a Bell spokesperson said.

The updated Best Buy Express stores will sell general consumer electronics, plus wireless, internet, television and home phone services exclusively from Bell, including from the telecom’s Virgin Plus and Lucky Mobile brands.

Bell will be responsible for operating the stores and its staff will be Bell employees who receive training from both companies, Bell spokesperson Ellen Murphy said, declining to say what the ownership structure of Best Buy Express will be under the partnership.

Ms. Murphy added that that customers will benefit from Best Buy’s “global buying power and scale to provide the latest consumer electronics.” Best Buy Canada is a subsidiary of Best Buy Co. Inc.

Blaik Kirby, Bell’s group president of consumer and small and medium business, called it a “ground-breaking partnership that will resonate with Canadian consumers.” Mr. Kirby said the aim is to combine Bell’s mobility and internet offerings with the Best Buy consumer electronics experience.

Best Buy said the partnership will help it expand its presence in malls and small and mid-sized communities across the country, hoping to appeal to customers with an updated, small-store format.

The Source is a subsidiary of Bell Canada, which acquired the electronics retailer in 2009 for an undisclosed amount in order to boost its retail footprint. The chain had 750 stores at the time.

Bell said at the time that the purchase price was “considerably less” than the $334-million that Circuit City Stores Inc. had paid for the retailer in 2004.

Prior to that, the stores were called RadioShack. They were rebranded to The Source by Circuit City in 2005 after U.S.-based RadioShack Corp. won an injunction that stopped Circuit City from being able to use the RadioShack name for its Canadian stores.

(A year earlier, Circuit City had acquired InterTan Canada Ltd., which held the licence for the RadioShack brand in Canada for a set period of time.)

Circuit City’s CEO said in an interview in 2005 that it opted for The Source by Circuit City because the company wanted to keep the name and identity for its Canadian stores separate in case it eventually decided to bring its big-box Circuit City outlets into the country.

However, the company – once the second-largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. – wound up eventually filing for bankruptcy.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...nd-the-source/

[rocketphish]

The fallout: About 135 The Source stores will be closed this year. I think I can count 8 currently in Ottawa\Gatineau area. Let's see if any of the targeted ones are among those. St. Laurent, anyone?

[Kitchissippi]

Maybe they should just call them Good Buy

[Catenary]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

The fallout: About 135 The Source stores will be closed this year. I think I can count 8 currently in Ottawa\Gatineau area. Let's see if any of the targeted ones are among those. St. Laurent, anyone?

I believe South Keys closed recently. Was always going to be a challenge keeping that one going with Staples next door now selling Bell services.

[J.OT13]

The Source has taken quite a dive when it comes to their offerings over the last decade or so.

[Harley613]

The new Canadian Tire on Carling has an exit gate that has to be unlocked by a staff member (and is often staffed by a security guard). The whole thing is ridiculous, I feel like a farm animal in a pen in that store. There's loss prevention, then there is making your customers feel like criminals just by being there. I will not return to that store.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Harley613

The new Canadian Tire on Carling has an exit gate that has to be unlocked by a staff member (and is often staffed by a security guard). The whole thing is ridiculous, I feel like a farm animal in a pen in that store. There's loss prevention, then there is making your customers feel like criminals just by being there. I will not return to that store.

I've passed through that gate a number of times. Didn't bother me at all. I do wish the store entrance was better oriented toward the mall, however.

[Harley613]

Well, it definitely bothers me. I know my exits at all times, and that store gives me anxiety.

[kingedward]

One of the many odd things about the giant Carlingwood Canadian Tire is that the store doesn’t seem to have all that much more variety than a typical location. The shelves are full because they have many identical products on display, not more selection. There’s something quite uncanny about it.

Agreed that the mall connection corridor and secured exits are awkward and cumbersome. Now that I think about it, Canadian Tires often have those little turnstiles at the entrances, but this particular store is especially challenging to exit when you’re not making a purchase. I guess the only alternative to asking the security guard to open the exit is making your way through the serpentine queue at the registers.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by kingedward

One of the many odd things about the giant Carlingwood Canadian Tire is that the store doesn’t seem to have all that much more variety than a typical location. The shelves are full because they have many identical products on display, not more selection. There’s something quite uncanny about it.

Agreed that the mall connection corridor and secured exits are awkward and cumbersome. Now that I think about it, Canadian Tires often have those little turnstiles at the entrances, but this particular store is especially challenging to exit when you’re not making a purchase. I guess the only alternative to asking the security guard to open the exit is making your way through the serpentine queue at the registers.

I feel the same way about the TrainYards Farm Boy.

[rocketphish]

Nobody can save it this time. Nooooooooobody!

Bad Boy Furniture Warehouse fails to file proposal, is deemed bankrupt

The Canadian Press
January 25, 2024 9:17 AM ET

Toronto-area furniture retailer Bad Boy Furniture Warehouse Ltd. is officially bankrupt.

In November, the company filed a notice of intention under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, saying it aimed to restructure its business.

Later the same month, an Ontario court gave Bad Boy permission to begin liquidation sales.

It also gave the retailer until Jan. 23 to file its restructuring proposal.

But according to a new document on the website of bankruptcy trustee KSV Advisory, Bad Boy failed to file a cash-flow statement or proposal in time, and is now deemed to have made an assignment.

Scott Terrio, manager of consumer insolvency at licensed insolvency trustee firm Hoyes, Michalos & Associates Inc., says that means the company is now bankrupt.

The chain had one store in the Ottawa region on Merivale Road.

https://obj.ca/bad-boy-furniture-war...emed-bankrupt/

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

Nobody can save it this time. Nooooooooobody!