The Retail Thread

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

Maybe it was something else up until then? I honestly have no idea, despite driving by quite regularly.

what's interesting is when I showed up I thought it was already out of business! Although the whole end of that strip mall is labelled with No Frills, the north half of it is empty. Very curious if No Frills is going to expand or if something else is going there.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

what's interesting is when I showed up I thought it was already out of business! Although the whole end of that strip mall is labelled with No Frills, the north half of it is empty. Very curious if No Frills is going to expand or if something else is going there.

There used to be a women's health club or something in the north half. A long time ago, it was all one store.

[MalcolmTucker]

Loved No Frills in Toronto. Great for everything except meats. Of course no fresh butcher or baker, but what do you expect. Very cheap otherwise, just have to deal with them sometimes being out of stock on somethings. If something is on sale very often it will be sold out and not restocked for a week or more.

Alberta needs more cheap grocery places, especially since it is hard to justify a Wal-Mart run when one is only buying $50 worth of stuff. Once you get used to the prices, was hard moving up to Edmonton shopping at the urban Sobeys and at Sunterra near my parents' place in Calgary. Even on name brand stuff they were 30% cheaper on many things.

Hopefully they will do well and extend further into the city. They would do well in Bridgeland!

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

Loved No Frills in Toronto. Great for everything except meats. Of course no fresh butcher or baker, but what do you expect. Very cheap otherwise, just have to deal with them sometimes being out of stock on somethings. If something is on sale very often it will be sold out and not restocked for a week or more.

Alberta needs more cheap grocery places, especially since it is hard to justify a Wal-Mart run when one is only buying $50 worth of stuff. Once you get used to the prices, was hard moving up to Edmonton shopping at the urban Sobeys and at Sunterra near my parents' place in Calgary. Even on name brand stuff they were 30% cheaper on many things.

Hopefully they will do well and extend further into the city. They would do well in Bridgeland!

Yeah I was using one in Parkdale in Toronto, and even that one wasn't too bad. I'd like to see No Frills open between the currently far apart Superstores.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Yeah I was using one in Parkdale in Toronto, and even that one wasn't too bad. I'd like to see No Frills open between the currently far apart Superstores.

Yep. They initial push by Loblaws was to sell off all the Extra Foods and convert them in to No Frills, and they've now moved onto the filling the holes in the market phase of the plan. They still have Extra Foods in some places (High River and Cochrane), but they want to get rid of them. A lot of it sounded like its too much cost to oversee such a large number of stores, whereas with the Franchises its done by the owner but Loblaws still controls the distribution network and makes their share of the profit.

[Beltline31]

Before moving to Calgary five years ago I lived in Oshawa (Toronto suburb). I remember the No Frills there always having expired product, sold out of what was on sale, and never being very clean. We only ever shopped there for papertowl, toilet paper, and canned goods.

I'd like to check out the Calgary locations to see how it compares but it seems they won't be opening anything near downtown.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Beltline31

Before moving to Calgary five years ago I lived in Oshawa (Toronto suburb). I remember the No Frills there always having expired product, sold out of what was on sale, and never being very clean. We only ever shopped there for papertowl, toilet paper, and canned goods.

I'd like to check out the Calgary locations to see how it compares but it seems they won't be opening anything near downtown.

The one in Temple was better than expected. But it is only a month old.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by You Need A Thneed

Memory Express NE Location will be moving into the former Stampede Toyota Building on 32nd Ave.

To expand on this, Memory Express is doing a pretty substantial renovation and addition to the building before moving in.

[DizzyEdge]

The old Partsource on 16th ave NW is going to be a Coop liquor store.

One of the retail bays in the new Inglewood development (forget the name) is an Epsy store (clothing).

Nothing yet in the new development at 14th st and 5th ave NW, but all the retail bays have for lease signs.

[McMahon]

This may not be particularly newsworthy, but I was at Southcentre today, and noticed that Great White North has closed down.

Not a huge nerd, but it's a shame as I enjoyed browsing in there now and then and looking at their (dusty) Lego window display.

[SpongeG]

American retailers eye larger slice of Calgary market

Vacancy rate at a low 2.5%

By Mario Toneguzzi August 11, 2011 5:02 PM

CALGARY — Waves of American retailers are looking for opportunities to expand beyond their overly-competitive domestic market with Canada, and Calgary, their obvious destinations in the future, says a retail report by Barclay Street Real Estate Ltd.

Besides giant discount retailer Target’s entry into the Canadian marketplace in 2013, other retailers looking to expand here include Kohl’s, Marshalls, J. Crew, Express, Zumiez, Intermix and J.C. Penney.

“Consumers in Calgary seem to remain resilient and optimistic in the current economy,” said Ellisa Asaria, associate, retail leasing for Barclay Street. “The demand for retail space in the city is outstripping supply and this is leading to low vacancy rates and high competition for prime locations.”

The Barclay Street report said Calgary’s retail vacancy rate is only 2.5 per cent and it is anticipated that the market will experience tight vacancies in the foreseeable future until more developments come on stream.

“With a limited amount of retail space available in the market, landowners are considering this to be an opportunity to develop land for new retail locations,” said Asaria. “There are some exciting new retail locations that will be ready in the near future.

“While there are a number of new retail developments across the city, we see the market remaining tight due to above average Alberta incomes and increased interest by foreign retailers in Canadian spaces. With the upbeat market, U.S. retailers are seeing this as an opportunity to expand to the Canadian market. Retailers in both the food and consumer goods spaces are actively seeking to enter the under-serviced Canadian market. In the short-term, there are expansion plans by discount stores like Dollar Tree and U.S. food retailers like PF Chang’s. In the medium term, we will see new American-style outlet centres with high-end retailers.”

According to the Conference Board of Canada, Calgary had the highest average annual retail sales growth in the country from 2001-2010 at 6.8 per cent. Last year, retail sales grew by 5.6 per cent from the previous year, reaching $21.6 billion.

...

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...#ixzz1Um0xfciN

[fusili]

Great article in the Herald about more restaurants opening up on 17th avenue:

Your guide to Calgary's eclectic 17th Avenue
By John Gilchrist, For the Calgary Herald August 21, 2011

The eclectic stretch is undergoing a restaurant renaissance of late.

Calgary’s 17th Avenue, from the Stampede grounds to Crowchild Trail, is a busy, eclectic stretch of road.

In addition to a variety of retail shops, offices and residential buildings, there is a wealth of restaurants, pubs and fast food outlets along it, some very good, some quite ho-hum.

But this year we are seeing a revitalization of the area as a dining destination with the arrival of a number of new places.



Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Yo...#ixzz1VlmRmWtf
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Yo...#ixzz1VlmK0Ueq

http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Yo...824/story.html

[Calgarian]

I'm really interested in Model Milk, that's such a great space for a restaurant. I hope they decide not to become a club at night though.

The thing I like most is they decided to use the name of the original owner of the building as the restaurant. I really hope it works, that space has not done very well by it's tenants in the past.

[lubicon]

SportMart in Crowfoot Centre is closing. Moores mens clothing and some computer store closed earlier in the same building which is now completely empty. However my wife was in there and the Sportmart people were saying SportChek was going to take over the entire building, renovate, and open a new SportChek store. Which makes sense I suppose since they are the same company.

[mersar]

Originally Posted by lubicon

SportMart in Crowfoot Centre is closing. Moores mens clothing and some computer store closed earlier in the same building which is now completely empty. However my wife was in there and the Sportmart people were saying SportChek was going to take over the entire building, renovate, and open a new SportChek store. Which makes sense I suppose since they are the same company.

The computer store (CompuSmart) closed a few years ago now, and Moores recently just moved further west in the mall to beside Lammles. Not too surprised to hear SportChek is taking it over, that SportMart always seems to be pretty busy.

Also, Future Shop's new store on Macleod opened on the weekend, this is on the old Woodridge Ford site just a few blocks south of their old location.

[Jay in Cowtown]

Originally Posted by mersar

The computer store (CompuSmart) closed a few years ago now, and Moores recently just moved further west in the mall to beside Lammles. Not too surprised to hear SportChek is taking it over, that SportMart always seems to be pretty busy.

Also, Future Shop's new store on Macleod opened on the weekend, this is on the old Woodridge Ford site just a few blocks south of their old location.

We need some sports store competition to open up in this country... SportChek has an absolute monopoly now and their prices indicate that!

[Calgarian]

Originally Posted by Jay in Cowtown

We need some sports store competition to open up in this country... SportChek has an absolute monopoly now and their prices indicate that!

I used to like Sportchek, but now I find that they are pricey and their staff are really bad at their job, especially at the Westbrook one. Now that Crappy Tire owns them I wonder what their sports selection will become.

[lineman]

They'll add car batteries and garden hoes to the mix.

[Jimby]

Crappy Tire seems to have a penchant for Calgary based national retailers since they had previously bought Calgary based Mark's Work Wearhouse. Are there any other Calgary based nationwide retailers?

[Ramsayfarian]

Originally Posted by lineman

They'll add car batteries and garden hoes to the mix.

I think you'll see sports section of Canadian Tire get better, maybe even be branded Sport Chek, but I doubt that you'll see much evidence of Canadian Tire in a Sport Chek