Canadian Retail Thread

[casper]

Originally Posted by Djeffery

I ordered a couple tables from IKEA last year and had them held for pickup at a company called "Custom Delivery" in London. That location was just a few blocks away from where the IKEA Pick-Up Point store was before they closed them all, in a plaza that has a Brick and a Bad Boy and a few other large stores. I can't imagine rent was cheap there. Now they have moved to the former Sears warehouse in the south London industrial park, so not sure how well that location would do for IKEA now (although it is only about a mile away from where the full scale IKEA store was supposed to be built). If they are offering Penguin Pickup (as well as, or instead of), I think they have a location in the Walmart Supercentre big box plaza in north London, closer to the university.

Penguin Pickup is owned by Smart REIT. When your parent company owns the shopping complex and your building on a pad in the parking lot, rent is less of an issue.

There more recent concept locations have been co-branded with Walmart complete with Walmart kiosks going into downtown Toronto. Most of their locations are setup for average size e-commerce packages. I don't think they can handle a large volume of furniture.

[WhipperSnapper]

SmartREIT never own the shops at Aura (assuming opening a new location here) and i'm pretty sure some of the strategic pick up locations aren't in smartreit properties.. Anyways, This was owned by Kingsett Capital which sold it to Ikea's parent company. It will be renamed the Ingka Centre at Aura. Maybe an opportunity for the floundering retail condo in the basement to cut their losses.

[casper]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

SmartREIT never own the shops at Aura (assuming opening a new location here) and i'm pretty sure some of the strategic pick up locations aren't in smartreit properties.. Anyways, This was owned by Kingsett Capital which sold it to Ikea's parent company. It will be renamed the Ingka Centre at Aura. Maybe an opportunity for the floundering retail condo in the basement to cut their losses.

The more recent Penguin Pickups have ventured off SmartREIT properties. Especially the downtown Toronto ones.

Co-branding the downtown Toronto Penguin Pickup with Walmart was driven by Walmart wanting to gain a stronger presence in the urban core.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Also, Simons has officially announced their 17th store at the Halifax Shopping Centre in Halifax. It will be part of a $57M reconstruction of the former Eatons/Sears store at the mall. Opening will be in spring 2024.

Simons is a nice store, it kind of reminds me a bit of department stores in Europe and Asia where they still actually try. Unlike the The Bay which threw in the towel a decade ago, and Eaton's which pretty much gave up when Mulroney was Prime Minister.

[Coldrsx]

^Agreed. Simons is a great store that can cater to a wide demographic and is destination store for many. A coup.

[davidivivid]

In september, The Bay will close its 150 000 sq ft Laurier store in Quebec City, which means it will only have one store left in Quebec, the one at Galeries de la Capitale, which it revamped a few years ago.

In a very related news, a company based in the city just agreed to buy 50% of the Laurier mall from Ivanoe Cambridge for $309M. The plan is to invest a Billion dollars over the next 10 years to triple the surface area of the property to integrate up to 2000 new housing units for families, seniors and students as well as hotels and office space.

The first tower to go up will be on the parking lot on the corner of Hochelaga and Jean-De Quen. The Bay store, which is the building covered in brown bricks, will be demolished next.

The empty lots situated on the upper left belong to the Federal government. It used to house military families. The city is hungrily eying these lots since it would be perfect for dense housing.



https://www.journaldequebec.com/2022...-sa-superficie

[Acajack]

I am not sure that The Bay "in general" is long for this world.

Very surprised that their store at Les Promenades Gatineau hasn't closed yet. It's not totally dead in terms of customers, but I really doubt there is enough business to keep such a large store afloat.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am not sure that The Bay "in general" is long for this world.

Very surprised that their store at Les Promenades Gatineau hasn't closed yet. It's not totally dead in terms of customers, but I really doubt there is enough business to keep such a large store afloat.

Surprised none of them closed in the NCR as of yet. We have five? Place d'Orleans, St. Laurent, Rideau, Bayshore and Les Promenades.

Sears stores are slowly being filled. The one at Rideau was bought out before it failed, replaced with Nordstrom (and a new food court) in 2014. Gallerie de Hull has been replaced with an EconoFitness and Aubainerie. Carlingwood store was demolished and is being replaced by a mega Canadian Tire and Urban Behavior (Behaviour?) will soon be taking over part of the old store at St. Laurent after 4+ years of being empty, with the occasional Halloween Spirit or other pop-up stores using a fraction of the space at times.

[cslusarc]

Retail Insider reports that Hudson's Bay will close its store at Lauruer Québec.

[Coldrsx]

Edmonton - Downtown retail struggles

https://retail-insider.com/retail-in...ry-interviews/

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am not sure that The Bay "in general" is long for this world.

Very surprised that their store at Les Promenades Gatineau hasn't closed yet. It's not totally dead in terms of customers, but I really doubt there is enough business to keep such a large store afloat.

I’ve been to the one at Guildford Town Centre in Surrey once or twice in recent months - that location seems to be doing well.

[manny_santos]

Some Zellers nostalgia, courtesy of Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/londonontar...unt_mall_2007/

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I’ve been to the one at Guildford Town Centre in Surrey once or twice in recent months - that location seems to be doing well.

Yeah its not too bad, they have brought in a good selection of brands popular with the social media set and they have some niche beauty brands. They've been doing well out here keeping the stores well stocked and with popular brands. The Langley store is quite good too. Maybe they are ignoring some markets in other parts of the country?

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I am not sure that The Bay "in general" is long for this world.

Very surprised that their store at Les Promenades Gatineau hasn't closed yet. It's not totally dead in terms of customers, but I really doubt there is enough business to keep such a large store afloat.

The Bay is down to two stores in Winnipeg... Polo Park is the "main" store but there is still the one at St. Vital which is kind of a vestige from when they used to be in several suburban malls as a supplement to their flagship downtown store. The St. Vital store was always kind of weak with a sparse selection. It looks like they don't really try there and frankly I'm surprised it's still open... I doubt it will be for much longer.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by esquire

The Bay is down to two stores in Winnipeg... Polo Park is the "main" store but there is still the one at St. Vital which is kind of a vestige from when they used to be in several suburban malls as a supplement to their flagship downtown store. The St. Vital store was always kind of weak with a sparse selection. It looks like they don't really try there and frankly I'm surprised it's still open... I doubt it will be for much longer.

They don't really try at their downtown Regina store either. The Basement level is closed, the outside doors remain locked (only entry is via the mall), on the main floor they basically have 4 different tiles due to sloppy repairs/replacements, the display windows facing the street are incredibly depressing.

At this point, it's basically on part with Walmart as far as aesthetics go. That comparison might be a touch harsh, but not completely inaccurate.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Nathan

They don't really try at their downtown Regina store either. The Basement level is closed, the outside doors remain locked (only entry is via the mall), on the main floor they basically have 4 different tiles due to sloppy repairs/replacements, the display windows facing the street are incredibly depressing.

At this point, it's basically on part with Walmart as far as aesthetics go. That comparison might be a touch harsh, but not completely inaccurate.

Has The Bay renovated any stores outside of Toronto and maybe Montreal and Vancouver in this century?

Even the Polo Park store in Winnipeg is only in decent shape because Sears put a pile of money into renovating it for its short lived "eatons" chain. The Bay took over after that fell apart and they have just been coasting on that, although it's starting to look tired after 20 years.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by esquire

Has The Bay renovated any stores outside of Toronto and maybe Montreal and Vancouver in this century?

The interior of the Rideau Street location in Ottawa was renovated, but to me it seems pretty bland and sterile. They also cleaned-up the Rideau Street façade and opened-up some windows to the street. Nothing has been done to the terrible George Street façade facing the ByWard Market.

We've heard rumours that they are planning to redevelop the Rideau store in a similar fashion to Vancouver and Montreal. No official proposal yet.

Rideau's HBC was built and owned by local department store Freiman's until they were baught out by HBC in 1972. It's a nice enough looking early 20th Century building, seen here before the renovations.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freimans

What's interesting though is that the Chapters next door (originally a Woolworth) is moving to the Rideau Centre across the street after 26 years at their current location. Wondering if that building may be in the development plans.

[cslusarc]

Speaking of The Bay @ St Vital in Winnipeg.
1. Its a gold tier store (or was in 2020);
2. It was sparsely merchandised on my previous visits this year when compared to pre-pandemic time;
3. It has permanently locked its North-West door facing London Drugs and Sears. In today's environment does a department store really need 3 seperate ground floor exterier entrances in addition to ap mall entrance?

[SpongeG]

I was at the Metrotown Bay today, it had a decent flow of customers, small line up at the cashiers. The overall store has not been renovated but it is constantly changing and updated with new things, such as there is now an EQ3 section. They have a little section for TYPO which is a brand from Australia, which is like trendy stationary and youth oriented things like mugs, socks, decor etc. Overall the store is nicely merchandised and without a gut renovation is ok.

[Harrison]

Originally Posted by cslusarc

Speaking of The Bay @ St Vital in Winnipeg.
1. Its a gold tier store (or was in 2020)

Is there a list somewhere of the Bay's 'gold tier' stores? I'd be interested to see how they categorize all of their stores in Canada.