General Retail News

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

You read the article and listen to these people talk and it's like Gatineau is an independant city. A region of 300,000 people; no, it's 1.4 million with Ottawa a short drive to shop at more prominant malls like Rideau and St-Laurent.

But don't get me wrong, it's great for Gatineau, maybe less so for Ottawa.

Do people from Gatineau come to Ottawa much to shop? I lived in Ottawa for over 30 years and think I only went to (as opposed to through) Gatineau about a half dozen times. The only time I ever shopped there was once when I stop at the SAQ at the end of the bridge.

[J.OT13]

When I lived in Gatineau, we use to go to Ottawa at least once a week.
And I should specify what I mean by "independent city", a city that can survive without the others in the Metro area, i. e., without Ottawa (say Québec separates), Gatineau is completely screwed, but without Gatineau (in this case, Gatineau disappears, not a Qc separation, in which case we would be screwed), Ottawa has a few to many jobs, a good problem to have.

[Acajack]

Gatineau people shopping in Ottawa - depends. Some go all the time. Some never go. It's probably a lot less common than your typical suburb-to-city shopping patterns elsewhere in NA.

[wingman]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Gatineau people shopping in Ottawa - depends. Some go all the time. Some never go. It's probably a lot less common than your typical suburb-to-city shopping patterns elsewhere in NA.

I think people from the Aylmer sector would head to Ottawa, as it is just as close as coming to Gatineau proper. No shopping in Aylmer to speak of really.

For les Hulloise I would say less than Aylmer more than Gatineau. As le Plateau grows that may keep more people in the area. Plus, Hull is not far from Gatineau (where most of the national chains are for the Outaouais).

And for those who live in Gatineau proper, I would say they go over the least. Most everything here now. Once Target opens and if Simons is installed, the mall will improve. Being anglo, I find the resto selection the only thing lacking in the Outaouais.

We go once a month or so on average, but more around Christmas. Since we moved here last year, we have come to the realization that we have everything we need right here. Some small exceptions; Five Guys sadly being one ;-)

Would be interesting to see some numbers on that (figure Oxford has them), as many retailers now (attempt to) collect your postal code at check out.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Gatineau people shopping in Ottawa - depends. Some go all the time. Some never go. It's probably a lot less common than your typical suburb-to-city shopping patterns elsewhere in NA.

Could be; the Gat-OT pattern might depend on the persons origins. We went to OT often because we were a Franco-Ontarian family living in Québec, so we better identified with the institutions (cinemas, malls, hospitals...) in Ottawa. My French-Quebecer freinds seem to lean towards getting everything done on the Québec side.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by wingman

....

Would be interesting to see some numbers on that (figure Oxford has them), as many retailers now (attempt to) collect your postal code at check out.

I used to ask the clerk "why" when my postal code was requested, but that seemed to be putting them on the spot for something they have no control over, so now I just give them an old one that I remember from Kitchener. Am I just getting curmudgeonly in my old age?

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

But don't get me wrong, it's great for Gatineau, maybe less so for Ottawa.

I think Gatineau getting this mall renovation, as well as it's own highway to Montreal, is good for Ottawa and the region. It's competition. Perhaps Gatineau growing will light a fire under Ottawa's complacent butt.

One of the great things about the GTA is that municipalities are connected in areas where they need to be, but they also compete in areas where they need to compete. The 905 is getting aggressive about catching up to Toronto. I wouldn't mind if Gatineau got more aggressive- build a library and more condos downtown, build a new convention centre, build a Byward Market knock off in the Gatineau sector. At the end of the day we'll only grow as a metro area.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I used to ask the clerk "why" when my postal code was requested, but that seemed to be putting them on the spot for something they have no control over, so now I just give them an old one that I remember from Kitchener. Am I just getting curmudgeonly in my old age?

It's probably for the distribution of flyers.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Could be; the Gat-OT pattern might depend on the persons origins. We went to OT often because we were a Franco-Ontarian family living in Québec, so we better identified with the institutions (cinemas, malls, hospitals...) in Ottawa. My French-Quebecer freinds seem to lean towards getting everything done on the Québec side.

I have seen this as well. My family has Franco-Ontarian origins and in the first years there was always a reflex to go over to Ottawa for a lot of stuff. As time wore on we found ourselves going less and less. Although perhaps we still go over more often than Gatineau-born people do.

One thing people don't realize is that a lot of Franco-Ontarians when doing stuff like shopping and such can actually feel a bit out of place in Quebec where everything is in French. Often they are so used to shopping and doing everyday life things in English that they don't know the exact terms in French or understand what people in Quebec are using as names for certain items. Which is why some of them will prefer to do their stuff in Ottawa where everything is in English - oddly enough.

Having everything in French took some getting used to for us when we first moved to Quebec.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Acajack

It's probably for the distribution of flyers.

Whenever I go to Ikea, I always give them a random postal code.

Just to make their marketing department scratch their head.

[eemy]

A lot of people from Whitehorse shopping at the Ottawa Ikea?

[Cre47]

Ikea Pinecrest

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...104.39,,0,7.99

Lowes Kanata

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...02.83,,1,-1.32

Lowes Orleans

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...57.04,,0,-1.02

T&T Hunt Club (unfortunately due to missed shots, this is the best I can post)

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...109.67,,1,1.15

I thought they had opened another T&T on Tenth Line at the former Canadian Tire location. Though it appears to be called Freshland Supermarket (though some colors looks like T&T) with yet another Goodlife Fitness

https://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll...119.19,,1,3.95

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by Cre47

I thought they had opened another T&T on Tenth Line at the former Canadian Tire location. Though it appears to be called Freshland Supermarket (though some colors looks like T&T) with yet another Goodlife Fitness

It wasn't a T&T although it was an asian supermarket. They were in competition with T&T. They've drastically cut down the size of their store since they opened.

[eemy]

Lowe's really needs to update their stores. They remind me of old Walmart's.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by harls

Whenever I go to Ikea, I always give them a random postal code.

Just to make their marketing department scratch their head.

I am so glad to know that I'm not the only one who does that! In my case, I give stores in Ottawa and old Kitchener code that I recall and down here in K-W-C I use an old Ottawa code.

[RTWAP]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I am so glad to know that I'm not the only one who does that! In my case, I give stores in Ottawa and old Kitchener code that I recall and down here in K-W-C I use an old Ottawa code.

Why?

I'm not a fan of providing personal details but a postal code is pretty generic. From my point of view, if they can do a better job of targeting their advertisements then one or all of three things will happen.
1) They'll lower their costs.
2) They'll waste fewer dead trees.
3) They'll better understand their customers.

I'm in favour of all three of those. The first one especially. Lower costs mean lower prices, higher profits, or both. The first directly helps their customers and the second indirectly helps the entire economy.

That said, I draw the line at providing my address. Radio Shack always used to ask for it, and I always said no. Nosy frackers.

[McC]

4) they might open a location closer to you

it does seem a little nosy, though ,and if they ask for address and phone number they get a firm "no thanks!" (if you want my personal deets, give me airmiles, dammit! ;-) but just giving the first 3 of your postal code should provide them enough information for their purposes, while staying pretty non-specific for your privacy's.

[wingman]

Originally Posted by McC

4) they might open a location closer to you

it does seem a little nosy, though ,and if they ask for address and phone number they get a firm "no thanks!" (if you want my personal deets, give me airmiles, dammit! ;-) but just giving the first 3 of your postal code should provide them enough information for their purposes, while staying pretty non-specific for your privacy's.

Agree with you both, never saw a reason to "hide" my postal code, considering anyone can look it up online anyway. Besides, what are they going to do with a postal code? Worst case, send more junk mail? Yikes! Best case, already mentioned above.

Though I have to say I chuckled at the "shoppers in Ottawa from Yellowknife", that is fun.

Unrelated but more on topic, closing dates confirmed for 2 Outaouais Zellers stores. Galeries Gatineau, Dec 17 in preparation for Target (Only Gatineau location). Place Cartier Jan 17 in preparation for Walmart (to be the 4th in Gatineau). No word on Galeries Aylmer.

[harls]

Giving your postal code is almost the same as giving your address (for me, anyway) - I live on a tiny street, and there are about 10 other houses in Gatineau that share my same code.

It all depends though.. the place where I grew up had one postal code for the entire town of 2500 people, and everyone got their mail from boxes at the lone post office.

One other habit I've started is to give a 'junk' email address when entering contests and crap. I will purposely make a mistake in the spelling of my name to know who's been trading the information. Jean-Coutu had a booth set up at the Balloon festival this year and asked for your name and email address to win a prize. I signed up with my junk email and misspelled name. Surprise.. I'm getting offers from other stuff with that name and address. Those email lists must be worth a lot of money!

[eemy]

With gmail, you can add +random_text to your e-mail address (ie. [email protected]), and you will still receive the e-mail in your normal account. However, it is really easy to filter out those e-mails too. I use that technique for registering for websites all the time.