Quote:
Originally Posted by JHikka
It was actually a serious question.
Cities in the Atlantic Provinces (and in particular outside of Halifax) are not going to have retail outlets similar to those in the states or Ontario simply because the population base and purchasing power isn't there. Bangor's Wal-Mart is just typical of American Wal-Mart and has nothing to do with Wal-Mart Canada's plan for stores in Canada. Stores in other provinces (such as Ontario) are larger and offer more because of immediate market, given that there are cities in Ontario which have more people than all of NB. It comes down to pretty basic logistics at the end of the day.
In saying that, it definitely does not help when we send buses full of people down to Calais and Bangor for shopping rather than spending that money in NB (whether locally or at the local Wal-Mart). I guess people feel shopping in Calais is exotic or something. If there's anything businesses in NB need right now it's people spending money in their own stores locally.
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For what it's worth, a lot of the Supercentres currently open in Ontario are smaller as well compared to the US. So it's not an NB thing, or an Atlantic Canada thing.
Look at this news release they had for their 200th Supercentre opening in Edmonton;
Edmonton-Abbottsfield Walmart Supercentre Fast Facts
Walmart Canada’s 200th supercentre
Located in Abbottsfield Mall at 3210-118 Avenue Northwest
Former Zellers location renovated to look and feel like a typical Walmart
73,000 square feet of retail space
100 associates
$10,000 in donations presented to local charities
Convenience services include a pharmacy, photo centre, connection centre for wireless services, and Western Union
Yes, it was a Zellers conversion, but it's still a Supercentre, and a VERY small one at that.
Lets also not forget, the current store in Saint John is already quite large. So a small expansion, plus a reconfiguration of the current space will make it quite a large store.