Canadian Retail Thread

[harls]

Originally Posted by Loco101

Oh I remember them. I don't think that we ever had one in Timmins but Iroquois Falls had one right until the company went under. One we did have in Timmins was The Met (Metropolitan Stores). It had the smokiest lunch counter of all of the department store restaurants here.

Fucker, you caught me in mid quote, damn internet!

I had a Saan in my hometown of 2500. They turned it into a Red Apple.

Place sells USB cords designed to fry your new iphone or samsung s23.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by harls

Fucker, you caught me in mid quote, damn internet!

I had a Saan in my hometown of 2500. They turned it into a Red Apple.

Place sells USB cords designed to fry your new iphone or samsung s23.

so true! when you pay $1200 for a phone, buy the legit charger made by the OEM.



And I remember Saan having affordable and decent quality clothing as a child.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by harls

Fucker, you caught me in mid quote, damn internet!

I had a Saan in my hometown of 2500. They turned it into a Red Apple.

Place sells USB cords designed to fry your new iphone or samsung s23.

so true about those cords.

The SAAN in Iroquois Falls became and still is a Bargain Shop which is the same company as Red Apple.

Another thing about Iroquois Falls is that it has a population of around 4000 but has been shrinking for awhile as the main industry, the paper mill closed almost a decade ago. But the town has three pharmacies that are doing a booming business.

[Wigs]

Originally Posted by Loco101

so true about those cords.

The SAAN in Iroquois Falls became and still is a Bargain Shop which is the same company as Red Apple.

Another thing about Iroquois Falls is that it has a population of around 4000 but has been shrinking for awhile as the main industry, the paper mill closed almost a decade ago. But the town has three pharmacies that are doing a booming business.

That sounds like an American name for a town, and of course would be butched like Eerah-koi

[esquire]

Originally Posted by casper

When I lived in Deep River Ontario I shopped at Giant Tiger all the time. They were the only department store in town. That was their main selling feature and I think critical to their business model.

Yeah, fair enough. In small towns that aren't big enough for Walmart, Winners and other big boxes, GT is often the main "department store", such as it is.

There are a lot of them in Winnipeg and other prairie cities though, and it's less clear to me how they seem to thrive in more competitive markets.

Originally Posted by harls

What about SAAN?

SAAN was a bit different than the others in that, as best as I can recall, pretty well clothing and shoes only. I remember they underwent a bit of a revival around Y2K with big box locations, but they didn't last long. The chain went under soon after.

[harls]

Originally Posted by esquire

SAAN was a bit different than the others in that, as best as I can recall, pretty well clothing and shoes only. I remember they underwent a bit of a revival around Y2K with big box locations, but they didn't last long. The chain went under soon after.

SAAN totally feels like Giant Tiger, and if I want to take it a step down, Dollarama.

[le calmar]

The newer Giant Tigers are actually kinda neat. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 3 those that I have been to (Stittsville, the flagship store on Walkley and Kingston). They’re no worse than Walmart albeit with a smaller inventory, and they’re busy. But they also have a lot more older smaller and tired locations, which is what most people associate GT with.

The discussion about the 3 pharmacies in Iroquois Falls got me intrigued. Out of curiosity, are the pharmacists in those places visible minorities? I’d say that about 75% of the pharmacists I see in the major urban centres are, and I’m curious if it’s also the case in places like this.

[casper]

Originally Posted by esquire

Yeah, fair enough. In small towns that aren't big enough for Walmart, Winners and other big boxes, GT is often the main "department store", such as it is.

There are a lot of them in Winnipeg and other prairie cities though, and it's less clear to me how they seem to thrive in more competitive markets.

The NorthWest Company had some type of master franchise for the Giant Tiger brand that let them open stores under the GT brand in Western Canada. There plan was to do Northern in the remote communities and GT in places like Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Calgary.

After a few years they gave up that plan and those stores went back to being GT owned.

The North West Company is a weird beast. They view themselves more as a logistics company than a retailer. They own a small airline called North Star Air that flies cargo into a lot of remote communities. Weird strategy.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by harls

Giant Tiger has a distinct odor that Walmart doesn't. I can't quite put my finger on it. Sort of a mix of dog food and stale bananas.

Walmart just smells like bleach and citrus.

When I started in high school in Toronto in Grade 9 it was within walking distance of an indoor mall. The anchors were Loblaws and Woolco. Woolco had a distinctive smell helped by the snack counter selling Pogo dogs and lots of potpourri around and cheap furniture. I remember walking in there with a friend of mine and asking 'what is that smell'. His reply 'poverty'. It was inappropriate in today's economic climate but at the time it did make me laugh.

[Taeolas]

My hometown, Woodstock, NB, had a SAAN for a while. It replaced the Met which was one of our department stores before Walmart finally moved in (we also had Stedmans and Dolphins when I was growing up, but the later two closed long before Walmart showed up).

SAAN lasted until about the turn of the century, then it closed up.

Hart has moved into some of the space, and the Brick has taken up the rest of the space up there.

Here in New Brunswick, it seems like we're definitely in Giant Tiger territory, but Hart has also done some major expansions into it. Rossy came in for a bit but has mostly retreated from what I can tell. Freddy has 2 Giant Tiger locations that seem fairly popular, and a Hart location that doesn't feel as busy.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by casper

The North West Company is a weird beast. They view themselves more as a logistics company than a retailer. They own a small airline called North Star Air that flies cargo into a lot of remote communities. Weird strategy.

I remember thinking that NWC was a quaint little local Winnipeg company, like some glorified social service that took it upon itself to stock small communities with food. But then one day I read in the paper that their CEO made some crazy-for-Winnipeg amount of money, like into the tens of millions of dollars, and I realized what a big business it was

Originally Posted by Taeolas

My hometown, Woodstock, NB, had a SAAN for a while. It replaced the Met which was one of our department stores before Walmart finally moved in (we also had Stedmans and Dolphins when I was growing up, but the later two closed long before Walmart showed up).

SAAN lasted until about the turn of the century, then it closed up.

Fun fact, SAAN was another Winnipeg company. Their owners had a giant warehouse in south Winnipeg which was one of the biggest buildings in the country when it was built. It is now occupied by a variety of tenants.

The owners of SAAN really cashed in by securing the rights to Sony products in Canada way back before Sony was a big thing. So they made crazy bank when Sony became a massive brand in the 70s and 80s.

[casper]

Originally Posted by esquire

I remember thinking that NWC was a quaint little local Winnipeg company, like some glorified social service that took it upon itself to stock small communities with food. But then one day I read in the paper that their CEO made some crazy-for-Winnipeg amount of money, like into the tens of millions of dollars, and I realized what a big business it was

The original NWC (from the 1700s) was merged into the Hudson Bay Company. I don't remember when it go spun off, but at some point HBC wanted out and since then it was spun back out has been acquiring similar business around the world.

Given the prices they charge in those remote communities I would not call it a social services business. They are a major corporation.

I knew one of the VP (who is not there any more) at the time they purchased the airline. They viewed themselves as a logistics company that happened to sell groceries and offering financial services in remote communities.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by casper

The original NWC (from the 1700s) was merged into the Hudson Bay Company. I don't remember when it go spun off, but at some point HBC wanted out and since then it was spun back out has been acquiring similar business around the world.

Given the prices they charge in those remote communities I would not call it a social services business. They are a major corporation.

I knew one of the VP (who is not there any more) at the time they purchased the airline. They viewed themselves as a logistics company that happened to sell groceries and offering financial services in remote communities.

NWC started up in the late 80s, they took over The Bay's longstanding northern stores. They carry on the North West Company's name, but it's a different entity from the original.

As strange as it may sound to urban Canadians, if you lived in a tiny little indigenous community in Northern Manitoba, you did all of your shopping at The Bay since it was the only store in town. Of course, The Bay in Shamattawa bore no resemblance to the typical suburban Bay store.

Since NWC took over, they rebranded the stores as Northern, but they are fundamentally unchanged.

Here's what one of their stores looks like:



Their stores are often the subject of controversy because of the extremely high prices that they charge local residents.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by le calmar

The discussion about the 3 pharmacies in Iroquois Falls got me intrigued. Out of curiosity, are the pharmacists in those places visible minorities? I’d say that about 75% of the pharmacists I see in the major urban centres are, and I’m curious if it’s also the case in places like this.

The pharmacists in 2 out of the 3 pharmacies definitely are visible minorities and owned by them. The third one I'm not 100% sure but it wasn't a few years ago. But I wouldn't at all be surprised if all three are now. In Timmins, most of our pharmacists are visible minorities and they have been buying up many of the franchise locations.

Back to Iroquois Falls, population 4000. It has:

PharmaChoice Family Care Pharmacy

I.D.A. Rx Drug Mart

Iroquois Falls Guardian Pharmacy

And all three are pretty close together which is even more strange. One of them used to be in another part of town. Just look at the Google Maps link to see how close they are:



https://www.google.com/maps/@48.7589...6835873,18.71z

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Wigs

That sounds like an American name for a town, and of course would be butched like Eerah-koi

Most people around here pronounce it EAR-KWAH Falls. But I've also heard URKIS Falls which I don't know if it's a joke or why some people say it like that. A lot of people just call it "The Falls."

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by casper

The NorthWest Company had some type of master franchise for the Giant Tiger brand that let them open stores under the GT brand in Western Canada. There plan was to do Northern in the remote communities and GT in places like Winnipeg, Saskatoon, and Calgary.

After a few years they gave up that plan and those stores went back to being GT owned.

The North West Company is a weird beast. They view themselves more as a logistics company than a retailer. They own a small airline called North Star Air that flies cargo into a lot of remote communities. Weird strategy.

I have been to some Northern Stores and they are famous for having insanely high prices on grocery items. There used to be some Northern Stores in smaller road accessible Northern Ontario towns but without the groceries. I remember them in Wawa and Smooth Rock Falls. But now they only seem to operate in places not accessible by road with the exception of Chisasibi, Quebec which I have been to and is very isolated. The last stores I was in were in Moosonee and Moose Factory.

[Denscity]

We had a Saan and a Fields and a Met. Too small for a Walmart/Woolco back then.
Now we have a Dollarama and some other dollar store chain and a larger Canadian Tire. No Walmart still.
Population 8300 in town plus 7000 in the Regional District.

[Airboy]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I have been to some Northern Stores and they are famous for having insanely high prices on grocery items. There used to be some Northern Stores in smaller road accessible Northern Ontario towns but without the groceries. I remember them in Wawa and Smooth Rock Falls. But now they only seem to operate in places not accessible by road with the exception of Chisasibi, Quebec which I have been to and is very isolated. The last stores I was in were in Moosonee and Moose Factory.

NW stores are in Every community I was in through the Arctic. They would compete with the Northern COOP. but prices were pretty much the same.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by harls

SAAN totally feels like Giant Tiger, and if I want to take it a step down, Dollarama.

I remember SAAN from visits to see family in Drumheller. It was the main clothing store. It was like a shittier K-mart but only selling clothes. In hindsight the store was kind of laid out like Winners is.

[Acajack]

Does anyone remember Kresge?