Canadian Retail Thread

[SpongeG]

aren't indigo and chapters the same anyway? do they really think customers don't know that?

[neilson]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

aren't indigo and chapters the same anyway? do they really think customers don't know that?

It's just like Best Buy and Future Shop. Same Parent Company, different niches.

[204]

Originally Posted by waterloowarrior

'green' big box superstores?

Yep, Wal-Mart had a design for a Vancouver store that included windmills to provide half the power to heating and cooling systems, dozens of trees, skylights and rooftop water collection for store use.

But of course the anti-american lefty council voted it down.

[raisethehammer]

a 'green' walmart is an oxy-moron.
Sure they can slap up a building with solar panels and reuse the toilet water, but everything about how they operate is as unsustainable as possible.

And I wouldn't be too quick to bash Vancouver's city council...first of all, encouraging sustainable, ethical business doesn't make them 'anti-american' although that's what the SUV-hogs in the States would want you to believe.
Secondly, most cities in North America would give their right arm to have a council like Vancouver's that makes the tough decisions and doesn't allow any old development to take place. The results speak for themselves - most livable city on earth and a model of urban development for the rest of the Western World.
Just come out and state that you prefer places like Laval, Mississuaga and Surrey and all their big-box madness, don't embarass yourself by making fun of the most successful urban city on the continent.

[SpongeG]

surrey isn't that bad don't lump it in with missisauga

[SteelTown]

Burlington is getting an MEC store, Mountain Equipment Co-op. It'll be located right next to the Burlington GO Station and QEW. It'll be a LEED built retail store. You'll find more info about this in the Hamilton Development thread.

[SpongeG]

nice

I just noticed Vancouver has PEAK PERFORMANCE and the only other two Canadian Locations are Whistler and Quebec

its a swedish sporting goods store

http://www.peakperformance.com/

their spring campaign was shot in Tofino - some nice pics

[SteelTown]

Retailer set to pitch its tent in Burlington
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jun 27, 2007)

Mountain Equipment Co-op is hiking its way over to Burlington.

The Canadian outdoor retailer is opening a new location next year at Brant Street and Leighland Road, near the Burlington GO station.

"Membership for our store from the southern Ontario area and the Golden Horseshoe," said Peter Robinson, CEO of MEC, "has grown to the point that it was absolutely crazy to say we didn't have a store there."

The Burlington store will be the third Ontario store and 12th location in Canada.

"It's been a very deliberate and planned expansion of stores based on member concentration and propensity of people who practice outdoor recreation in the area," Robinson said.

The co-operative retailer, which made more than $220 million in sales last year, sells outdoor clothing and equipment for hiking, climbing and skiing.

It has a large concentration of members from the Golden Horseshoe. About 100,000 of MEC's 750,000 members in Ontario live on the west side of the GTA, near Burlington, Guelph, Hamilton or London, as well as throughout the Niagara Peninsula and in smaller southwestern Ontario communities. There is even an online project and petition called Open a MEC in Hamilton! at http://mecinhamilton.neenerneet.net.

Marvin Ryder, of McMaster University's DeGroote Business School, said areas between Hamilton and Toronto -- with its increasingly populated areas like Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington -- have been appealing for expanding retailers for some time.

"For MEC you have a win-win situation," Ryder said. "There's more people there with more income and purchasing power."

The retailer's decision to open a location in Burlington reflects how "the city's time has come as a regional centre," said Don Baxter, executive director for the Burlington Economic Development Corporation.

"Burlington is a young and growing market with lots of residential development," Baxter said. "And that's only part of (the Burlington MEC) market."

Robinson said he expects about 80 people to be employed at the 20,000-square-foot store.

While MEC is headquartered on the West Coast, Robinson said "it's safe to say that by next year you can see most of our members in Eastern Canada.

"It's been fun and exciting for us to reach all Canadians."

Design work and planning for the site is under way. Robinson said he expects to begin foundation and concrete work this fall.

The region has seen a number of new store openings in the past year with H&M at Lime Ridge, Lowe's (opening soon), Talize (on Hamilton Mountain), Hart (downtown) and Banana Republic, which opens at Mapleview Shopping Centre on July 9.

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Burlington is getting an MEC store, Mountain Equipment Co-op. It'll be located right next to the Burlington GO Station and QEW. It'll be a LEED built retail store. You'll find more info about this in the Hamilton Development thread.

That is such a disgrace. The only MEC should be in downtown Toronto. MEC is known for supporting downtowns and cities, not suburbs.

As far as I am concerned, if they can't make the trek into Toronto then they can stay in the suburbs. No need to build a store for the suburbanites out in Burlington.

Destination places like MEC should have one store and one store only, and that is in the city centre.

[someone123]

The problem is that if MEC doesn't have a store in Burlington people there will just shop at Coast Mountain or whatever they have out there rather than going downtown.

[ibz]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

That is such a disgrace. The only MEC should be in downtown Toronto. MEC is known for supporting downtowns and cities, not suburbs.

As far as I am concerned, if they can't make the trek into Toronto then they can stay in the suburbs. No need to build a store for the suburbanites out in Burlington.

Destination places like MEC should have one store and one store only, and that is in the city centre.

huh?

[CCF]

MEC is apparently going to expand into smaller cities.

Wonder if either Saskatchewan city will see a store anytime soon.

[SpongeG]

the MEC in vancouver is not downtown

[Kilgore Trout]

the MEC in vancouver is not downtown

yeah, but at least it's on an urban retail street easily accessible by foot and public transit. the MEC in montreal, while located in a state-of-the-art green building, is located in a suburban-style power centre in some woebegotten industrial area on the fringe of the inner city.

[Policy Wonk]

I have not been in a Mountain Equipment Coop in a good 15 years, but all I remember of the one in downtown Calgary is there was maybe half a dozen parking spots, and most of what one would buy there you would not want to carry any distance, let alone on the bus.

I think the last thing I bought there was a cooler, and I remember hauling it about 4 blocks to where I was parked.

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by someone123

The problem is that if MEC doesn't have a store in Burlington people there will just shop at Coast Mountain or whatever they have out there rather than going downtown.

Not really. It says they have members as far away as London. So people are making the trek. Look at the TTC bus riders. I see people in the farthest streches of Scarborough with MEC backpacks. People will make the trek down, because it is a destination store. That is what makes downtowns and city districts interesting. They have places you can only find there.

There is no reason to open these stores in the suburbs and make it all the same.

To bad if you live that far out. Not my problem. You can make the trek into the city sometime and actually see different things. We should not encouraging people to stay in their own little neighbourhood and never venture of their hood.

[SSLL]

Wow, that's a pretty suburban location there. I guess they don't hold any responsibility to locate solely in urban areas. They are a Mountain Equiptment Coop, after all.

[SpongeG]

so pottery barn in Vancouver has shut down for renos - i believe they are adding more space by opening up a second floor - and pottery barn kids will be put in - anyway they have a temp store further down the street and its pretty bare minimum and the floors are uneven and grubby etc. and the lighting is so harsh - its all overhead flors and it just seems so weird to see pottery barn in such a badly lit grubby space

but here is a pic of the williams-sonoma set to open in the fall - they have really gutted the building as you can see some big chunk missing - the old store there was two levels - ground and basement - i am assuming the williams-sonoma will use both levels as well but be much more open like they can be



gotta love the vancouver graffitti

[MTLskyline]

They're building a Hooters restaurant near Montreal in Greenfield Park on Taschereau Blvd.

Is this the first Hooters location in Quebec? I heard that there was one in Ormstown, but I don't think that was an actual Hooters.
________
Zx14 Vs Hayabusa

[SpongeG]

all the hooters here in BC closed a couple years ago

some reason sexist chains don't go down well out here