Canadian Retail Thread - Page 309

Loco101 · #**6161** Posted **Mar 9, 2021, 6:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by zahav

White Spot is such an institution in BC, I am curious if it will have the same take in Ontario. I agree with what others said, expansion to Alberta would've been way more of a slam dunk than out to Ontario. But the food is good, it's classic comfort food and has a niche for that here, I go with my mom every week still.

Canadian regional restaurant chains often have an especially hard time going into another Canadian region. (BC, prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic are the regions)

manny_santos · #**6162** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 3:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denscity

Ah interesting. We have Van Houte here too but they supply coffee at a gas station (Chevron) as opposed to a stand alone coffee shop.

Van Houtte is also sometimes provided in corporate settings - my old office (pre-Covid) had Van Houtte in the break room.

manny_santos · #**6163** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 3:12 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by whatnext

Starbucks has been doing a huge pullout from the City of Vancouver. They've said their "post-pandemic" strategy is stores with drive-thrus (no longer allowed in Vancouver) but a lot of the locations they closed were fairly busy. They don't break out Canada results from US ones so it is difficult to see how big their drop in sales might have been.

They also closed two in New Westminster including one a couple blocks from me. The Waves coffee shop located in between these two closed Starbucks promptly expanded their opening hours to take advantage of the displaced customers. There is also a brand new coffee shop that just opened a couple weeks ago near one of the former Starbucks.

The Starbucks closest to me was consistently busy and always had a lineup whenever I went in, right up to the end. That closure was likely entirely strategic and not due to sales/profitability.

manny_santos · #**6164** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 3:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by esquire

It's interesting how resistant the Canadian marketplace generally is to those types of 'in between' sized grocers... the ones that, like Carrefour City, are maybe double the size of a 7-Eleven but still manage to offer pretty well a full range of groceries. I suppose there must be some reason for it, but you would think there would be some room between tiny convenience stores and conventional full sized supermarkets.

As for Starbucks, it does seem that their star is fading. The only people I know who get excited for it are those in their 40s who came of age in the 90s when Starbucks had some real brand cachet. To younger people, I get the impression that Starbucks is basically like McDonald's to them... a familiar place you can go to in a pinch.

Back in the mid-2000s in London, there were very limited choices for coffee other than Tim Hortons and Starbucks - there was Williams Coffee Pub and Coffee Culture which were regional chains; there was Little Red Roaster in Wortley Village and the downtown library, there was Angelo’s Bakery which at one point had 4 locations (and had a fairly extensive drink menu), and there was a roastery at the Covent Garden Market. The Spoke at Western sold fair trade coffee when I was a student there, and it was arguably the best coffee in London at that time. But I remember Starbucks having a lot of cachet back then.

I also recall Kingston having a far more developed independent coffee shop culture than London back then.

There’s definitely more independent coffee shops in London nowadays, though Tim Hortons is still very dominant and some suburban parts of the city still have no other choices. I still don’t get how an area the size of Byron is served by a single Tim Hortons.

Architype · #**6165** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 3:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by zahav

White Spot is such an institution in BC, I am curious if it will have the same take in Ontario. I agree with what others said, expansion to Alberta would've been way more of a slam dunk than out to Ontario. But the food is good, it's classic comfort food and has a niche for that here, I go with my mom every week still.

The sale of their Georgia Street location for a hefty $245 million might have allowed for some extra expansion elsewhere.

casper · #**6166** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 10:54 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by zahav

White Spot is such an institution in BC, I am curious if it will have the same take in Ontario. I agree with what others said, expansion to Alberta would've been way more of a slam dunk than out to Ontario. But the food is good, it's classic comfort food and has a niche for that here, I go with my mom every week still.

It is not clear they are taking the White Spot sit-down restaurant format into Ontario. Just now it looks like just the Triple O franchise.

Djeffery · #**6167** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 11:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by manny_santos

I still don’t get how an area the size of Byron is served by a single Tim Hortons.

It's sort of 3 that serve the area, although only the 1 actually in Byron. I live in Byron and never go to the Byron Tim's. I go to Colonel Talbot and Southdale, or the one that opened almost 2 years ago at West 5, which still never seems to have the long snaky drive thru lines.

The entirety of northwest London is surprisingly underserved by Tims though. Stand at Wharncliffe and the Thames River, draw a line down the river to the west and up Wharncliffe, Western and Richmond, and I count 6 of the top of my head in that whole quadrant of the city, including the one in the UCC at the university. That there isn't one on Oxford all the way from Talbot out to West 5 surprises me, and there isn't one on the north side of Oxford at all, across the entire city. Who wants to make lefts all the time if you are westbound lol.

GreatTallNorth2 · #**6168** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 1:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by manny_santos

There’s definitely more independent coffee shops in London nowadays, though Tim Hortons is still very dominant and some suburban parts of the city still have no other choices. I still don’t get how an area the size of Byron is served by a single Tim Hortons.

I'm happy to say I own one of those independent cafes in London

Harrison · #**6169** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 7:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

I'm happy to say I own one of those independent cafes in London

The bicycle cafe??

memememe76 · #**6170** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 7:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by manny_santos

They also closed two in New Westminster including one a couple blocks from me. The Waves coffee shop located in between these two closed Starbucks promptly expanded their opening hours to take advantage of the displaced customers. There is also a brand new coffee shop that just opened a couple weeks ago near one of the former Starbucks.

The Starbucks closest to me was consistently busy and always had a lineup whenever I went in, right up to the end. That closure was likely entirely strategic and not due to sales/profitability.

What's the name of the new coffeeshop in New West?

GreatTallNorth2 · #**6171** Posted **Mar 10, 2021, 10:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harrison

The bicycle cafe??

Society Cafe in Blackfriars

SpongeG · #**6172** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 1:03 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by memememe76

What's the name of the new coffeeshop in New West?

serious coffee? they just opened in the retail of that tower 3 of the project I can't remember the name for. but it's attached to skytrain.

its a chain from Vancouver Island, quite popular there.

Djeffery · #**6173** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 1:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

Society Cafe in Blackfriars

Glad to see you are still around after both that unfortunate car accident and, you know, that whole Corona thing lol.

GreatTallNorth2 · #**6174** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 2:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

Glad to see you are still around after both that unfortunate car accident and, you know, that whole Corona thing lol.

Ha, thanks. Yeah been a bit of a rough ride but it's going well now.

manny_santos · #**6175** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 2:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpongeG

serious coffee? they just opened in the retail of that tower 3 of the project I can't remember the name for. but tits attached to skytrain.

its a chain from Vancouver Island, quite popular there.

Yep, that’s the one. I went there on the weekend for the first time, it was good and I plan to go back.

Technically it’s a block west of SkyTrain.

manny_santos · #**6176** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 2:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeffery

It's sort of 3 that serve the area, although only the 1 actually in Byron. I live in Byron and never go to the Byron Tim's. I go to Colonel Talbot and Southdale, or the one that opened almost 2 years ago at West 5, which still never seems to have the long snaky drive thru lines.

The entirety of northwest London is surprisingly underserved by Tims though. Stand at Wharncliffe and the Thames River, draw a line down the river to the west and up Wharncliffe, Western and Richmond, and I count 6 of the top of my head in that whole quadrant of the city, including the one in the UCC at the university. That there isn't one on Oxford all the way from Talbot out to West 5 surprises me, and there isn't one on the north side of Oxford at all, across the entire city. Who wants to make lefts all the time if you are westbound lol.

There is one just north of Oxford, on Wonderland. For all intents and purposes I considered it to be on Oxford, albeit set back behind the Esso and whatever the former Burger King now is.

The one area of London that is completely devoid of Tim Hortons is Oakridge. I was surprised one didn’t go in when that whole area was redeveloped in 2004-06.

I used to go to the Byron one a lot in high school. That was back when they had chili in a bread bowl.

Denscity · #**6177** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 2:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loco101

Canadian regional restaurant chains often have an especially hard time going into another Canadian region. (BC, prairies, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic are the regions)

Yup no big presence in BC with Swiss Chalet Harvey's Kelseys East Side Mario's etc.

manny_santos · #**6178** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 2:51 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denscity

Yup no big presence in BC with Swiss Chalet Harvey's Kelseys East Side Mario's etc.

I felt bad because my parents sent me a gift card for that group of restaurants at Christmas, and I’ve been unable to use it so far. The closest one of those to me is a Swiss Chalet on Lougheed Highway in Burnaby, which can be a 30+ minute drive each way at rush hour. Next closest is a Montana’s all the way out in Langley.

I don’t believe we even have Harvey’s in this province anymore.

We have no shortage of Boston Pizza here though, which started in the West but has also been well-established in Ontario for nearly 20 years now.

Denscity · #**6179** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 3:37 AM**

Ah yes forgot about Montanas. Whose esthetic is a log cabin style popular in BC ironically.
I'm actually just a few hours away from Montana actually haha.

SpongeG · #**6180** Posted **Mar 11, 2021, 8:42 AM**

did the Harveys on Granville street close down?

I noticed the poutine place on Granville had closed down. Granville is turning into a dump again, pretty awful these days. But that's for another thread.

Daiso is however opening though so that's a good thing.