Canadian Retail Thread

[casper]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Exactly so, as Whole Foods now understands.

I don't remember where where but one of the reporters was on TV holding the letter/e-mail from Wholefoods and saying they came from the office in Texas.

That is probably the cause of the problem. IF the management team making the decision is mostly out of the US, they would not have the cultural content to understand why this is an issue. They were given a crash course in Canadian culture and after some "learning" made the correct decision.

One of the local food producers that I know that is in Wholefoods in Vancouver/Vancouver was telling me that the decisions on listing product were made at the regional level. The stores in Vancouver/Victoria had buyers in Seattle. The stores in Ontario were in a different region run our of an office in the eastern US.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by isaidso

In the UK, Burberry's 'tartan' is a symbol of 'chav' culture. It's worn by uneducated working class hooligans. It's a little odd to me how North Americans venerate it. Burberry is a luxury brand but that Burberry pattern couldn't get any tackier. HBC is a lower end brand but the stripes are a ton classier and have deep historical significance. 'Point blankets' were used during the fur trade: the more stripes the warmer. I wouldn't be caught dead in that Burberry 'tartan'...

Can it be chav if Bentley is now offering tartan trim (though not quite the Burberry pattern):

https://www.motortrend.com/news/bent...im-upholstery/

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Can it be chav if Bentley is now offering tartan trim (though not quite the Burberry pattern):

https://www.motortrend.com/news/bent...im-upholstery/

The Burberry/chav thing is dated. Although still pretty tacky if one is decked out head to toe in Burberry tartan.

[esquire]

The downtown Winnipeg Hudson's Bay store abruptly closed down for good today. It was supposed to stay open until February but the current restrictions on the sale of non-essential goods did them in early.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Can it be chav if Bentley is now offering tartan trim (though not quite the Burberry pattern):

Yes, absolutely. After moving back to London UK for a few years I can never look at Burberry tartan as exclusive, luxurious, stylish, desirable, etc ever again. Burberry tartan instantly evokes the image of crass, vulgar hooligans. Burberry can try till to claw it back by slapping it on a Bentley but the damage is done. For millions of people Burberry tartan will forever symbolize trashy people. I'd be mortified if someone put me in Burberry tartan and made me go out in public like that. YUCK!!!!!! I hate logos (95% of my clothes have no noticeable logo whatsoever) but if I must I'd wear something with HBC stripes on it over Burberry tartan 7 days/week.

You can't un-see this and I saw it 100s of times/month


https://lauramartinexploreproccess.w...2/2000s-chavs/

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The Burberry/chav thing is dated. Although still pretty tacky if one is decked out head to toe in Burberry tartan.

Chavs may have moved on to something else but for a lot of people they've killed Burberry tartan permanently. I don't like logos to begin with though. I won't buy something if the logo is larger than ~1cm. Even if it's just 1cm I'll just not buy it 95% of the time. I'll make an exception if it's a little bigger but the same colour as the product so you can't see it unless you look closely and/or its an obscure brand that most people where I live won't know what it is.

I have Reigning Champ sweat pants, for instance, but the logo is smaller than my finger nail and on the left hip.... no one will notice. It gets a pass.

[isaidso]

Originally Posted by esquire

The downtown Winnipeg Hudson's Bay store abruptly closed down for good today. It was supposed to stay open until February but the current restrictions on the sale of non-essential goods did them in early.

Very sad. It's going to be hard re-purposing a space that big. I'd hate to see it turned into condos.

[SpongeG]

ss2021


hypebeast.com

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by isaidso

Very sad. It's going to be hard re-purposing a space that big. I'd hate to see it turned into condos.

I'll take condos over a vacant building with the potential for demolition (as happened with the former Eatons building).

[esquire]

^ Pretty much that. Anything that keeps the building standing would be considered a win.

The trouble is that plans have been thrown around for the last 15+ years and no one has ever been able to make something work. Although that said, a NDP government might be more amenable to contributing to a redevelopment project of some kind... it isn't going to happen under Pallister. The best that can be done for now is to board it up, secure it, and hope for better days to come.

[hipster duck]

^Is the interior worth saving?

I don't know how a city of Winnipeg's size could absorb that much square footage right after a pandemic. Maybe it'd be best to gut the interior and turn the big mass into something like a donut or U-shaped design with a large interior courtyard.

[Coldrsx]

Originally Posted by esquire

The downtown Winnipeg Hudson's Bay store abruptly closed down for good today. It was supposed to stay open until February but the current restrictions on the sale of non-essential goods did them in early.

That's unfortunate. Ours was to have closed in late summer, but has postponed twice now until later 2021 and will operate as a discount/clearance Bay post-Christmas.

Sadly, there are often as many shoplifters in there as there are shoppers it seems at times recently.

[EspionNoir]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

^Is the interior worth saving?

I don't know how a city of Winnipeg's size could absorb that much square footage right after a pandemic. Maybe it'd be best to gut the interior and turn the big mass into something like a donut or U-shaped design with a large interior courtyard.

From my view, the interior’s changed substantially throughout the year. Now it doesn’t look attractive. Some one had proposed a design similar to the concept you mentioned. New developments are still coming to Winnipeg during the pandemic, but this one will probably take stages to be fully redeveloped. I personally think the potential scale of redevelopment will be close to that to True North Square.

[svlt]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

ss2021

hypebeast.com

That about sums up why logos (at least of that size) don't work at all. Even on a professionally styled model it looks horribly tacky and unwearable. On the flip side, if it was the plain beige trench and there was no branding on the bag she would look fantastic as the fit and finish at least from a photo appear sublime.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by esquire

The downtown Winnipeg Hudson's Bay store abruptly closed down for good today. It was supposed to stay open until February but the current restrictions on the sale of non-essential goods did them in early.

'tis a damn shame!

Retail insider did a nice write-up on the massive almost 700,000 square foot structure
https://www.retail-insider.com/retai...lagship-store/

[WhipperSnapper]

There's not many of them but, there are large commercial tenants that would take a serious look at the large floorplate.

[Prairiedawg]

Starbucks is closing 300 stores in Canada before
Spring.

https://globalnews.ca/news/7571716/s...-closures/amp/

1,400 Starbucks locations in Canada currently, Toronto has the most with almost 150, Calgary is second with 105, and possibly the most locations by size of city outside lower mainland.

Edit,
Saskatoon shows 20 Starbucks which may be the most by population of city.

[le calmar]

So they are closing an additional 100. So far the one in my neighbourhood has survived the closures.

[SpongeG]

Starbucks are closing but also opening, they want more drive-thrus and small pick up locations only. Most of the ones around here (Vancouver) are pick up only now.

Versace in Vancouver is closing and Thom Browne NY will be going into the spot.

source

[Acajack]

Not sure if there has been mentioned, but this is a retail giant that could be taken over by Montreal-area Couche-Tard:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-of-carrefour