Canadian Retail Thread

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Toys R Us Richmond has also closed (Landsdowne Mall). And Burnaby. And Coquitlam. The Surrey location closed a few years ago. I also heard that only the Langley location will remain open (in the entire Vancouver region).

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/toys...sure-locations

The Pointe Claire (Quebec) location has also closed.

Two locations in Ottawa closed two months ago. I noticed they closed the one in Sherbrooke too. Looks like the chain as a whole may be on its last leg.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Shit, Broadway closed? I opened that store, from the ground up, many years ago...(we called it 'Toys R Us Bowmac' back then)

Sobeys is taking over the space, not sure which brand but sounds like its will be a Safeway most likely.

[casper]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Sobeys is taking over the space, not sure which brand but sounds like its will be a Safeway most likely.

They are still opening Safeway's? I though the new stores were mostly their "discount" banner FreshCo.

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by le calmar

Two locations in Ottawa closed two months ago. I noticed they closed the one in Sherbrooke too. Looks like the chain as a whole may be on its last leg.

I took a closer look at the situation, and turns out they've been closing a handful of stores every month across the country.

They're borderline mass closing their stores, but since the closures are spread out it didn't really make the headlines. At this pace there's only going to be a few stores remaining by the end of the year. It does look like they're planning to slightly change the concept of their remaining stores by expanding HMV or whatnot, so I guess they're planning to stick around albeit with a smaller presence.

[whatnext]

I posted this in the Vancouver forum but this gong show impacts former HBC locations across the country:

Hudson's Bay hearing on lease deal adjourned as Ruby Liu appears without lawyer
TORONTO — B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu and her bid to buy up to 25 Hudson’s Bay leases was due to come under further scrutiny in court Tuesday — but the battle was waylaid when she showed up with no lawyer or materials to aid in making her case.
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
about 3 hours ago

TORONTO — B.C. billionaire Ruby Liu and her bid to buy up to 25 Hudson’s Bay leases was due to come under further scrutiny in court Tuesday — but the battle was waylaid when she showed up with no lawyer or materials to aid in making her case.

Judge Peter Osborne adjourned the hearing "for a short period of time," telling Liu “I not only urge but recommend in the strongest terms" that she hire a lawyer to represent her and her plans to buy the leases.

“There are significant concerns being expressed about those plans, so it is important for me to hear from you fully about what those plans are," he said.

Liu signed deals with the Bay in May to buy up to 28 leases in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario belonging to the defunct retailer and its sister banner Saks. She planned to use the properties to open a department store named after herself....

... Alvarez & Marsal, the monitor previously appointed to guide the court process, estimated it's costing at least $4.7 million in rent, property taxes, utilities and other fees each month that the Liu deal goes unapproved.

In a filing made just after midnight on Tuesday, it said it wrote to Liu repeatedly reminding her of her obligations and seeking information that could be used to get the court to assign her the leases without landlord approval.

The monitor said Liu has "not meaningfully responded," provided landlords with more information that might get them onside or even taken "the most basic and necessary steps" to advance her bid.

Liu previously provided landlords with information about her plans and believes they will welcome her if a court assigns her the leases.

“We will work closely with HBC and have already hired experts," Liu told Osborne on Tuesday, speaking in Mandarin that was translated by Linda Qin, the CEO of her company. "We are ready to open the stores."...

https://www.biv.com/news/hudsons-bay...awyer-10943761



One would think someone committed to doing business in Canada would a) have applied for citizenship and b) learned English (or French)?

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by casper

They are still opening Safeway's? I though the new stores were mostly their "discount" banner FreshCo.

we don't have many FreshCo's around here, there is a Safeway on west 4th that is closing for redevelopment. I think westerners like the safeway brand.

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

we don't have many FreshCo's around here, there is a Safeway on west 4th that is closing for redevelopment. I think westerners like the safeway brand.

They do, but Safeway has converted quite a few stores to FreshCo in recent years, including the stores in Abbotsford and Mission. Chilliwack still has a Safeway. Not unlike how A&P/Dominion/Metro converted some stores to Food Basics, and Loblaws has converted some stores to No Frills over the years.

[casper]

Originally Posted by manny_santos

They do, but Safeway has converted quite a few stores to FreshCo in recent years, including the stores in Abbotsford and Mission. Chilliwack still has a Safeway. Not unlike how A&P/Dominion/Metro converted some stores to Food Basics, and Loblaws has converted some stores to No Frills over the years.

Safeway (like Thrifty Foods) are Sobey's more expensive full service brands.

FreshCo offers more limited services and a lower price.

[SpongeG]

Surrey has at least one, maybe two FreshCo stores but they are aimed at SouthAsian shoppers and go by the name Chalo - Freshco. I've never seen a Freshco west of Surrey.


yelp

[casper]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Surrey has at least one, maybe two FreshCo stores but they are aimed at SouthAsian shoppers and go by the name Chalo - Freshco. I've never seen a Freshco west of Surrey.

[IMG]

West of Surrey there are:

- 53 St & Ladner Trunk in Ladner
- No 3 & Williams in Richmond
- No 2 & Blundell in Richmond

The other that are east of the two in Surrey would be :

- Lougheed Hwy & Hwy 11 in Mission
- Lougheed Hwy. #300, Maple Ridge
- Fraser Hwy, Aldergrove
- South Fraser Way, Abbotsford
- Yale & Hodgins Chilliwack

They also have them in Powell River, Williams Lake, 100 Mile House, Kamloops, Vernon, and Kelowna.

The "problem" with the Safeway stores is they are unionized with surprisingly good pay. If your an employee that is great, but it makes it hard to compete in a market where your competition has lower prices and lower service levels. Sobeys has been closing the Safeways that are in markets where they can't make it work.

[hipster duck]

It varies by store, but the FreshCo near me is great. Good prices, high quality produce, and a decent ethnic aisle. The ethnic aisle is a feature of most FreshCos - I remember the Peterborough store was the place for that <10% of the city's non-white population to shop for staples.

Their ethnic aisle skews more toward South Asian food in many Ontario stores, and given the size of the population, that's a huge untapped market. There should be a name-brand Desi supermarket, like what T&T is for Chinese customers, so opening Chalo-branded stores in Surrey sounds like a no-brainer.

[ericmacm]

I am happy to see ethnic grocery chains under the Big 3 expanding so much in Canada these days. I have always liked the smaller independent stores, but chains like T&T and Adonis, having financial backing of the Big 3, have introduced some very high quality products within East Asian and Mediterranean grocery products. Happy to see Chalo FreshCo expanding as well to expand on South Asian offerings. One ethnic grocery sector that I would like to see expand is Eastern European, the only big Eastern European grocery chain I have been to is Starsky in the GTA (which I miss dearly). We just recently had our T&T open up in London and have an Adonis opening up soon so the international offerings have exploded in a short period of time. Starsky has talked about opening new locations as well back in March so I’m hoping we eventually see one down here.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

It varies by store, but the FreshCo near me is great. Good prices, high quality produce, and a decent ethnic aisle. The ethnic aisle is a feature of most FreshCos - I remember the Peterborough store was the place for that <10% of the city's non-white population to shop for staples.

Their ethnic aisle skews more toward South Asian food in many Ontario stores, and given the size of the population, that's a huge untapped market. There should be a name-brand Desi supermarket, like what T&T is for Chinese customers, so opening Chalo-branded stores in Surrey sounds like a no-brainer.

I've been in maybe 10 Fresh Cos and they are all great. They have purposely a bit more basic and lack prepared food but the prices especially with matching flyers are substantially less.

South Asian food is big but they also reflect the other immigrant groups in the area so Caribbean is big in mine. Tons of great produce, sauces and even snacks and drinks.

[whatnext]

Ruby Liu, the gift that keeps on giving.

Ontario Superior Court chief justice rebukes B.C. billionaire seeking Bay leases for ‘inappropriate’ correspondence with judge
Susan Krashinsky Robertson Retailing reporter
Includes clarification
Published Yesterday
Updated 1 hour ago
For Subscribers

The office of the chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court has admonished Weihong (Ruby) Liu, the B.C. billionaire vying to buy more than two dozen Hudson’s Bay Co. leases, for e-mailing the judge overseeing the retail bankruptcy in order to press her case – correspondence that the court has deemed “inappropriate” and warned would be considered “harassing communications” if it continued.

The letter, sent by the office of the chief justice to Ms. Liu on July 15, was included in materials filed with the court on Tuesday. The correspondence to Justice Peter Osborne came from Ms. Liu, the chairwoman of real estate investment company Central Walk, based in Nanaimo, B.C., and from Central Walk’s chief executive officer Linda Qin, and praised the judge for “your grace, your dignity, your quiet but commanding presence,” while accusing the lawyers representing other parties in the case of “corruption.”...

....The court documents confirm previous reporting by The Globe and Mail that landlords decided to oppose the deal after meetings in which Ms. Liu was unable to provide details about her business plans.

For example, a letter from lawyers representing Cadillac Fairview Corp. to Ms. Liu’s then-counsel on June 11 stated that the commercial real estate giant’s repeated requests for information “have been steadfastly ignored.” At meetings on June 2, Ms. Liu “was wholly unprepared” to discuss her plans, and a subsequent letter to landlords lacked required details. Cadillac Fairview “is left with the strong impression that Ms. Liu is making this up as she goes,” the letter stated....

... In her letter, Ms. Liu called the judge “a person of justice and strength.” The correspondence was partially redacted.

“Is this what I have read of in books – true nobility?” the letter stated. “Or is it the lifelong defence of your own integrity and kindness? Or perhaps, is there also a silent sorrow in your heart at the compromises this world demands?”....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...iu-bankruptcy/

[Djeffery]

Looks like Loblaws is closing their eyewear stores and subbing out the space to Specsavers in some of their stores. Got a text yesterday that my local Theodore and Pringle at Zehrs will be closing soon.

Stores closing are listed on their website. Other stores not listed will re-open as Specsavers.

https://www.theodoreandpringle.ca/about-us/

[youngregina]

That’s a big deal for SpecSavers

[casper]

So we have some more foreign stores expanding in Canada. At least they are not American. Sounds like they are going from 33 to 37. Adding Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, and Quebec City

On the Street: UNIQLO to open Mayfair store,

Uniqlo has announced that it plans to open a new store in Victoria in Mayfair Mall this fall, as part of a country-wide expansion in B.C., Alberta and Quebec.

The Tokyo-headquartered fashion retailer, which has 33 locations in Canada after opening its first store in Toronto in 2016, would follow H-Mart as a new major tenant for the Douglas Street mall.

Source: https://www.timescolonist.com/busine...boost-11017457

[dreambrother808]

Originally Posted by whatnext

... In her letter, Ms. Liu called the judge “a person of justice and strength.” The correspondence was partially redacted.

“Is this what I have read of in books – true nobility?” the letter stated. “Or is it the lifelong defence of your own integrity and kindness? Or perhaps, is there also a silent sorrow in your heart at the compromises this world demands?”....[/I]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/busi...iu-bankruptcy/

She is obviously very out of touch with how our justice system operates. Thinking she can butter up the judge with compliments is downright comical.

Her plans reek of clown show and no landlord wants that pulling down their property’s branding. The process, while entertaining, wastes time in finding real tenants.

[casper]

No real details, but good to see the Bay will return.

Sounds like Canadian like buying from Canadian companies.

Canadian Tire preparing revival of Hudson's Bay trademarks for later this year: CEO

TORONTO — Shoppers will get their first peek at what the Hudson's Bay brand looks like under Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. ownership later this year.

Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks says his company will release "some updates and fun initiatives" linked to the fallen department store starting in the fourth quarter of this year but will leave the launch of a more "meaningful product presence" for the back half of 2026.

"Our teams are determined to be considered and careful. When it comes to stewarding the stripes, we'd rather be right than fast."

"While it's tough to quantify, we have no doubt that patriotic purchasing is real and working in our favour," Hicks said.

"Simply put, Canadians are visiting us more."

Source: https://www.timescolonist.com/nation...r-ceo-11044073

As for the other person who wanted the Bay.....

Landlords say Ruby Liu's plan for Bay properties 'defies commercial common sense'

TORONTO — Several of Canada's most prominent real estate companies are slamming an attempt from a B.C. billionaire to take over 25 former Hudson's Bay leases, saying her plan for their spaces “defies commercial common sense” and is "entirely unrealistic."

Her business is “an empty shell without any guarantee of financial means beyond Ms. Liu’s bare assertion that she will keep it afloat,” said Rory MacLeod, Cadillac Fairview’s executive vice-president of operations, in an affidavit. “All of the indications are that (her company) will run out of money before the first store opens.”

Source: https://www.timescolonist.com/busine...sense-11055667

[davidivivid]

Simons Opens First Urban Toronto Location at Yorkdale Shopping Centre

Simons—Canada's oldest private, family-owned business—proudly opens its doors today at Yorkdale Shopping Centre, marking the company's first urban Toronto store and its 18th location nationally. The two-storey, 118,000-square-foot space reinforces Simons' nation-wide presence as a premier fashion retailer with a unique offering of thoughtfully curated shopping experiences and exceptional customer service.

The first of two new locations opening in Toronto in 2025, the Yorkdale store is part of a broader investment of nearly $100M and 400 new employment opportunities in the Greater Toronto Area, contributing to the company's steady and consistent growth in the region and across the country.

[...]

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/si...--enoZeSfwtvOc