General Retail News

[eternallyme]

With so much downtown, I wonder how the suburbs will react? They won't be able to compete!

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

With so much downtown, I wonder how the suburbs will react? They won't be able to compete!

Wouldn't that be awesome; a reverse of the mid century exodus of the central cities.

[YOWflier]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Here's something kind of funny (yet kind of sad);

There's nothing sad about it. Ottawa should be going for the jugular during this time in trying to entice away (or instead) as much as it possible from Montreal. It's not without precedent (ex. Costco), and this time around I think Ottawa is in a better position to profit from the climate over there.

[kevinbottawa]

Originally Posted by ac888yow

There's nothing sad about it. Ottawa should be going for the jugular during this time in trying to entice away (or instead) as much as it possible from Montreal.

I agree!

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by c_speed3108

I think another issue is that most developers in the city don't really do mixed well. Most are either in the residential business or retail business. The most we generally seem to get a a condo tower with a shopper's drug mart on the ground floor. Nothing of any scale.

The developers, and the land-use regulators, in this city, are the most unimaginative, conservative, dolt-minded in Canada.

[kevinbottawa]

I wonder what's gonna happen with the downstairs space. The Citizen article says they'll be using the ground floor of the old Zellers space.

Bier Markt expanding to Ottawa

Published on July 30, 2013
OBJ Staff

Toronto-based restaurant and bar chain Bier Markt will crack open its first Ottawa location next year, the company stated Tuesday.

“It is true!” the company wrote on Twitter. “We will be pouring our beautiful Bier collection in Ottawa, fall 2014.”

Company officials did not disclose a location, but media reports say it will be 156 Sparks St. at O’Connor Street, a former Zellers location.

Morguard, which owns the property, was unwilling to discuss potential tenants at the site.

"We are continuing to work with many prospective tenants to secure the right mix to create a new retail offering that will be a great addition to the life and activity of Sparks Street," wrote Bernie Myers, VP of Eastern Ontario for Morguard, in an e-mail.

"At this point we are not in a position to make any further announcements."

This will be the company’s first location outside southern Ontario. According to its website, Bier Markt has four Toronto-area locations.

The company sells more than 150 beer brands from 30 countries.

http://www.obj.ca/Local/2013-07-30/a...ng-to-Ottawa/1

Upscale pub planned for former Sparks Street Zellers

By Robert Bostelaar, OTTAWA CITIZEN July 30, 2013 3:03 PM

OTTAWA — Long a source of laundry soap for Canada’s parliamentarians and others in downtown Ottawa, the former Sparks Street Zellers will soon be selling a different sort of suds.

Bier Markt, a Toronto-based pub chain, says it plans to open a 10,000-square-foot restaurant by fall 2014 on the ground floor of the former discount store at 156 Sparks.

It will be only the second outlet for the chain outside Toronto, after a pub scheduled to open later this year in Montreal.

But the chief executive of Prime Restaurants Inc., the company behind the Bier Markt chain and other such well-known brands as Casey’s and East Side Mario’s, said more may follow.

“This is going to be our flagship Ottawa location — I would expect there will be others in Ottawa,” John Rothschild said in an interview Tuesday.

The high-profile Zellers site at Sparks and O’Connor streets, a short block from Parliament Hill, has been the focus of much speculation since Zellers owner Hudson Bay Co. decided in 2011 to abandon its discount division and sell the leases to some Zellers stores to U.S. retail giant Target Corp.

Target took over leases of the Sparks Street store and eight other Zellers in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec but never was expected to install one of its outlets in the cramped downtown Ottawa location.

Rothschild said the Ottawa restaurant will cost “many millions” to build and should employ more than 100 part- and full-time staff when it opens.

Patterned on Belgian brasseries, Bier Markt offers more than 100 beers from around the world, paired with what the CEO describes as a “comfortable upscale menu.”

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/busines...639/story.html

[McC]

Sounds like they'll need a lot of storage space (for maintaining the inventory and doing the aging that they promise, and it's unclear from the different reports whether or not they will be brewing on site?). In any event, I wouldn't be surprised if the basement gets used for storage, and maybe some space for private functions, despite what the Citizen article says.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Here's something kind of funny (yet kind of sad);

Montreal

We've consulted with a retail analyst who says they're not sure if Montreal's economy or language laws would welcome Saks Fifth Avenue to the city at the moment. Downtown Montreal has a 655,000 square foot Hudson's Bay store that is currently undergoing renovations to include luxury department 'The Room'.

Retail Insider is often good but this sounds a bit bogus and juvenile as a reason for not going to Montreal.

HBC is a Canadian retailer that already operates numerous stores in Quebec in compliance with all Quebec laws including those related to language.

If they have a Bay store on Ste-Catherine that has predominant French signs then they can have an HBC-owned Saks somewhere in Montreal too.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Retail Insider is often good but this sounds a bit bogus and juvenile as a reason for not going to Montreal.

HBC is a Canadian retailer that already operates numerous stores in Quebec in compliance with all Quebec laws including those related to language.

If they have a Bay store on Ste-Catherine that has predominant French signs then they can have an HBC-owned Saks somewhere in Montreal too.

Quebec's language policy is actually a pretty big damper on investment there. Especially with the all speculation about Marois tightening it to be even more draconian than it is now. The reality is that English is the world language, and if investors are made to feel uncomfortable by using English, they won't invest. Quebec has lost quite a lot of business over the years because of bill 101, and yes retail too (Kelsey's pullout of Quebec comes to mind).

[kwoldtimer]

As Acajack points out, HBC already operates in compliance with Quebec's language laws, so compliance is not really an issue, imho. I suppose there might be economic implications in operating a single Saks department store in French, but this would be just one aspect of HBC's evaluation of whether the Montreal market could support a Saks, it would seem to me.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Quebec's language policy is actually a pretty big damper on investment there. Especially with the all speculation about Marois tightening it to be even more draconian than it is now. The reality is that English is the world language, and if investors are made to feel uncomfortable by using English, they won't invest. Quebec has lost quite a lot of business over the years because of bill 101, and yes retail too (Kelsey's pullout of Quebec comes to mind).

It's not exclusively that factor. Despite the much smaller population, the average income in Ottawa is significantly higher than what it is in Montreal.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Quebec's language policy is actually a pretty big damper on investment there. Especially with the all speculation about Marois tightening it to be even more draconian than it is now. The reality is that English is the world language, and if investors are made to feel uncomfortable by using English, they won't invest. Quebec has lost quite a lot of business over the years because of bill 101, and yes retail too (Kelsey's pullout of Quebec comes to mind).

I don't dispute most of this, but still don't see how this would be a big stumbling block for a Canadian retailer already present in Quebec and entrenched there from opening at least one Saks in the downtown of the second biggest city in the country.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

It's not exclusively that factor. Despite the much smaller population, the average income in Ottawa is significantly higher than what it is in Montreal.

True, but Montreal's wider trading area is almost four times the size of Ottawa's. There are probably as many of these high-income people in Montreal in sheer numbers as there are just people in total in Ottawa-Gatineau.

[bikegypsy]

Originally Posted by Acajack

True, but Montreal's wider trading area is almost four times the size of Ottawa's. There are probably as many of these high-income people in Montreal in sheer numbers as there are just people in total in Ottawa-Gatineau.

Ha! Fat chance... That would mean that the rest of Montrealers earn next to nothing.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...il107a-eng.htm

Montreal is essentially a struggling city. It does have a fair share of wealthy individuals but saying that it has more than 1,3 m high income earners is absurd. When I moved there (spent 15 years in that city), I was stunned by the overwhelming air of poverty. On the plus side it does have a good population of the very rich who decide to live/remain there as it is a fun city.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

Ha! Fat chance... That would mean that the rest of Montrealers earn next to nothing.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...il107a-eng.htm

Montreal is essentially a struggling city. It does have a fair share of wealthy individuals but saying that it has more than 1,3 m high income earners is absurd. When I moved there (spent 15 years in that city), I was stunned by the overwhelming air of poverty. On the plus side it does have a good population of the very rich who decide to live/remain there as it is a fun city.

Ottawa is indeed a richer city than Montreal by a fair margin however it is not anywhere close to being three to four times as rich. Given the sheer size of Montreal every single income tranche is going to be a good deal larger in sheer numbers than in Ottawa. There is a reason why many international luxury retailers are in Montreal and not in Ottawa despite the income disparity between the two.

Add into the mix the fact that in Montreal you have a good bit of additional money circulating that is from, um, unofficial sources, and the reality on the ground isn't fewer people who can afford to shop at Saks there. There are actually quite a few more.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Quebec has lost quite a lot of business over the years because of bill 101, and yes retail too (Kelsey's pullout of Quebec comes to mind).

Kelsey's left Quebec because of language? Really?

[phil235]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

Montreal is essentially a struggling city. It does have a fair share of wealthy individuals but saying that it has more than 1,3 m high income earners is absurd. When I moved there (spent 15 years in that city), I was stunned by the overwhelming air of poverty. On the plus side it does have a good population of the very rich who decide to live/remain there as it is a fun city.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say that Montreal is a struggling city. As has been the case everywhere in North America, it has seen some lean times lately, but until quite recently, it was experiencing an economic boom. And there continues to be significant commercial and residential development in the core. Since the low point of the early 90s, the city's economic trajectory has been generally upwards.

And regardless of income, with 4 million people, Montreal is a much larger market than Ottawa. Though Ottawa is making some strides, Montreal continues to have a far larger and more diverse retail scene than we do here.

[Retail-Insider]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Retail Insider is often good but this sounds a bit bogus and juvenile as a reason for not going to Montreal.

HBC is a Canadian retailer that already operates numerous stores in Quebec in compliance with all Quebec laws including those related to language.

If they have a Bay store on Ste-Catherine that has predominant French signs then they can have an HBC-owned Saks somewhere in Montreal too.

We reflected what an analyst told us in an interview (those weren't our words) and I believe he was referring more to how Quebec's language laws have contributed to its current economic situation. We're sure HBC would be willing to open Saks in Montreal if the market is there - money is money. Competition from Holt Renfrew, Ogilvy (Holt Renfrew owned, and soon to amalgamate) and Simons will be a challenge for Saks, however. At the same time, The Room's eventual opening at Hudson's Bay in Montreal is a sign that HBC sees luxury potential in Montreal.

We wonder though, if HBC were to open Saks in Montreal, would it have to be named Saks Cinquième Avenue?

(We're pro-French fyi - we're launching a French version of Retail Insider next month, and we'll be increasing our concentration on Quebec retailing)

[vanatox]

Originally Posted by bikegypsy

Ha! Fat chance... That would mean that the rest of Montrealers earn next to nothing.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tabl...il107a-eng.htm

Montreal is essentially a struggling city. It does have a fair share of wealthy individuals but saying that it has more than 1,3 m high income earners is absurd. When I moved there (spent 15 years in that city), I was stunned by the overwhelming air of poverty. On the plus side it does have a good population of the very rich who decide to live/remain there as it is a fun city.

Do you consider Vancouver and Toronto to be struggling city? Because incomes in the big three are about the same.

If you think that all individuals in Ottawa-Gatineau (1.3 M) are high income earners, you live in denial. Ottawa has mostly high income earners because of the federal government and a smaller immigrant population.

And let me add that for such a "rich" city, Ottawa-Gatineau doesn't look that much prosperous. The city is mostly unimpressive (in every way), utilitarian and my god, the way people dress...

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Kelsey's left Quebec because of language? Really?

The company never really explained why they left, but it is known that they had some serious run-ins with the OLF in the years leading up to their withdrawal from Quebec.