Canadian Retail Thread

[trebor204]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

So I see that Retail Insider is using Klazu's photos of Tsawassen Mills in his retail blog

I wonder if he discovered the photos here on SSP???

Most likely, some of my pictures I posted here, made its way to Retail Insider.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Some good news, I guess.





The current Costco in town apparently does about $1 million in business every day. It's very popular with Townies and people drive in from across the island to load up there.

Corner Brook pitched for Costco about 15 years ago when they started the Murphy Square power centre, but Costco wouldn't go for it so Corner Brook landed Walmart instead.

Gander tried for Costco a couple years back but their pitch was based on being a testing ground for a new smaller concept store that Costco was researching at the time. Apparently there were considering a smaller concept store for smaller cities/towns that don't have the population for a full sized store.

Most recently, maybe in 2013, Deer Lake made a pitch for Costco but that meeting didn't go very well apparently. Problem there is that Deer Lake is barely even a tertiary service centre on the west coast, it's basically a gas station with an airport and a motel. If Corner Brook can't convince them with 20K in population then Deer Lake (30 minutes away) had no chance at 4K.

I'd be interested to know how much they figure a second location in the city will stimulate sales. Shopping at Costco is like crack to anyone living from Grand Falls-Windsor and east, and my experience with most people living in St. John's is that they think having Costco is already the best thing about the city. So I'm not sure where the new sales will be coming from, haha. Kinda figured they were already maxing out the market on the one store.

[SignalHillHiker]

I have no idea. It's not my scene at all. I've been inside once, and that was bringing a visiting minister there.

[Acajack]

I find Costco interesting in that they are an American chain but there are significant gaps in the U.S. where they have no stores.

For example, for the longest time they weren't at all in upstate New York. They now have a store in Rochester but none in Syracuse (700k metro) and Buffalo (1-1.5m metro). They also don't have one in Scranton PA which is the size of Syracuse and none in the entire state of Maine that has more than 1 million people.

A few weeks ago they opened a new Costco in the SW Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven. It's only about a 10-minute drive from another Costco on Merivale Rd. in Nepean.

There are now three Costco's in Ottawa's west end and adjacent suburbs (Kanata is the other), which are home to roughly 500,000 people.

There is only one Costco in Ottawa's east end, which also has about 500,000 people in its primary market area.

And there is one in Gatineau as well, for about 300,000 people.

[SignalHillHiker]

I just can't believe how much people spend. My friend J.'s parents live about 6.5 hours drive from St. John's, on the south coast of the island. They come at least twice a year, and generally spend more than 2K each time. So round up and they're at like 5K/year at one store. WTF?

Even the people I know who live for it in town are spending for sure more than $100 biweekly.

[p_xavier]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

I just can't believe how much people spend. My friend J.'s parents live about 6.5 hours drive from St. John's, on the south coast of the island. They come at least twice a year, and generally spend more than 2K each time. So round up and they're at like 5K/year at one store. WTF?

Even the people I know who live for it in town are spending for sure more than $100 biweekly.

Amazon.ca subscribe and save is now cheaper than Costco for many products. Only no meats... I cancelled my Costco card, and now have the joy of having my products delivered the same day every month.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I find Costco interesting in that they are an American chain but there are significant gaps in the U.S. where they have no stores.

For example, for the longest time they weren't at all in upstate New York. They now have a store in Rochester but none in Syracuse (700k metro) and Buffalo (1-1.5m metro). They also don't have one in Scranton PA which is the size of Syracuse and none in the entire state of Maine that has more than 1 million people.

A few weeks ago they opened a new Costco in the SW Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven. It's only about a 10-minute drive from another Costco on Merivale Rd. in Nepean.

There are now three Costco's in Ottawa's west end and adjacent suburbs (Kanata is the other), which are home to roughly 500,000 people.

There is only one Costco in Ottawa's east end, which also has about 500,000 people in its primary market area.

And there is one in Gatineau as well, for about 300,000 people.

They just opened a Costco in the north end of Waterloo, adding to the store in Kitchener (located right between Kitchener and Cambridge). There's another one in Guelph, about 20 minutes drive from the east side of K-W, so that would be three serving about 700,000 people.

[kwoldtimer]

I needed to go in to Sears (St Laurent Shopping Centre) today to pick up a battery for my garage door remote opener. On my way out, I saw a pair of winter gloves that I liked and decided to buy. Not being familiar with the store, I was looking around with no success for a service counter so that I could pay. I had no expectation of finding an actual sales clerk, but was lucky to see a woman stocking a display nearby. She told me that if I walked to the centre of the store, I would see a "Customer Service" sign and that I could pay there. I was near the store exit that I wanted, but duly walked to the centre of the store and, after a moment, saw the said sign - over on the far side of the store. One point of sale, apparently, for the floor of a department store! I put the gloves back on my way out the door, with memories of Eatons' final days in my mind.

[WhipperSnapper]

LOL. Same thing happen to me a month ago. I think I walked the whole store until I found the service counter. You have multiple entry points. How difficult is it to put up signs pointing towards the checkout.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

I needed to go in to Sears (St Laurent Shopping Centre) today to pick up a battery for my garage door remote opener. On my way out, I saw a pair of winter gloves that I liked and decided to buy. Not being familiar with the store, I was looking around with no success for a service counter so that I could pay. I had no expectation of finding an actual sales clerk, but was lucky to see a woman stocking a display nearby. She told me that if I walked to the centre of the store, I would see a "Customer Service" sign and that I could pay there. I was near the store exit that I wanted, but duly walked to the centre of the store and, after a moment, saw the said sign - over on the far side of the store. One point of sale, apparently, for the floor of a department store! I put the gloves back on my way out the door, with memories of Eatons' final days in my mind.

This sounds really cunty but I just mean it as a laugh between friends: I love how you upper-class people seem to discover this, when for the rest of us it's just a sign of us now being able to afford Sears. They came down to our level. The one cashier in a mall-sized footprint is no surprise. That's all we've ever known of Sears.

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I find Costco interesting in that they are an American chain but there are significant gaps in the U.S. where they have no stores.
For example, for the longest time they weren't at all in upstate New York. They now have a store in Rochester but none in Syracuse (700k metro) and Buffalo (1-1.5m metro). They also don't have one in Scranton PA which is the size of Syracuse and none in the entire state of Maine that has more than 1 million people.
A few weeks ago they opened a new Costco in the SW Ottawa suburb of Barrhaven. It's only about a 10-minute drive from another Costco on Merivale Rd. in Nepean.
There are now three Costco's in Ottawa's west end and adjacent suburbs (Kanata is the other), which are home to roughly 500,000 people.
There is only one Costco in Ottawa's east end, which also has about 500,000 people in its primary market area.
And there is one in Gatineau as well, for about 300,000 people.

Thats quite the interesting trend, American company with a more even spread of store coverage in Canada than in America.

On the Prairies, there's a Costco it seems like, in any city over 50 or 60 thousand, two in cities more than quarter million etc.

Medicine Hat, AB has one, Saskatoon has two, Winnipeg has 3, Calgary and Edmonton have half a dozen each. 99% of Saskatchewan's population is within 2-3 hours drive of a Costco..
..come to think of it, only other province with 99% population <3hour drive distance to nearest Costco is ..maybe PEI

[kirjtc2]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

Thats quite the interesting trend, American company with a more even spread of store coverage in Canada than in America.

There's a good reason: Costco has no competition in Canada.

Most cities of 50-60k in the US would probably have a similar store, but it's more likely to be a Sam's Club or (ahem) BJ's. Costco tends to stick to the bigger metros.

[ericlewis91]

Even London Ontario has 2 Costco in a city of 383,000

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

This sounds really cunty but I just mean it as a laugh between friends: I love how you upper-class people seem to discover this, when for the rest of us it's just a sign of us now being able to afford Sears. They came down to our level. The one cashier in a mall-sized footprint is no surprise. That's all we've ever known of Sears.

As pleased as one is with the label, one must channel Isobel Crawley and insist on "upper middle-class".

[SaskScraper]

Originally Posted by kirjtc2

There's a good reason: Costco has no competition in Canada.

Most cities of 50-60k in the US would probably have a similar store, but it's more likely to be a Sam's Club or (ahem) BJ's. Costco tends to stick to the bigger metros.

For Costco it does probably come down to what's competition in certain markets, Walmart type stores just open and take over the competition in any market. As a club type store, Costco seems to have a more strategic plan of market coverage. I just find it interesting that Montana has 5 Costco stores and Maine with similar population has none.

[Trevor3]

How far would you go for a deal? Black Friday bus bringing bargain hunters to St. John's
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...trip-1.3865602

A bus bound for sales in St. John's will be pulling out of Corner Brook at 8 a.m. Friday, with shoppers set to hit the ground running that evening at the Avalon Mall.

The weekend trip was organized by Buckle Charters to take advantage of Black Friday sales, a U.S. Thanksgiving shopping tradition that has spread north to Canada.

The trip includes stops at the Village Mall, downtown St. John's and big box stores in the Stavanger Drive area.

A bus leaving Corner Brook bound for St. John's - that's a 7-8 hour haul - to hit up the Black Friday sales. If this goes over I might buy a bus and start my own shopping trip bus charter company.

The reason this fits here is that it's mainly to go to Costco. We have almost everything else on the West Coast already (Walmart, Sportchek, Winners, etc...). I find it funny that they would stop at the Village, literally every store in the Village is also on the west coast.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

For Costco it does probably come down to what's competition in certain markets, Walmart type stores just open and take over the competition in any market. As a club type store, Costco seems to have a more strategic plan of market coverage. I just find it interesting that Montana has 5 Costco stores and Maine with similar population has none.

BJ's is more dominant in the Northeast, correct? I know Sam's Club is more dominant in the southern states.

[niwell]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

LOL. Same thing happen to me a month ago. I think I walked the whole store until I found the service counter. You have multiple entry points. How difficult is it to put up signs pointing towards the checkout.

This is a little different, but I was in the Queen St Bay the other day over lunch to exchange something I had gotten online. No issues finding a checkout because there's a ton of them, but wayfinding in general is horrible. They let you know what's on each floor but absolutely no directions on how to get there. I gave up on trying to find the 2nd floor walkway to the Eaton Centre and went to the nearest exit I could find (which ended up being opposite to where I wanted to be).

Now I love the selection of the redone Bay and how it looks now, but would it kill them to put up signs pointing you in the right direction? I guess you want customers to browse but when you have somewhere to be it's extremely frustrating! The PATH is similar for those who don't use it regularly, although getting better in signage at least.

[ue]

Originally Posted by SaskScraper

For Costco it does probably come down to what's competition in certain markets, Walmart type stores just open and take over the competition in any market. As a club type store, Costco seems to have a more strategic plan of market coverage. I just find it interesting that Montana has 5 Costco stores and Maine with similar population has none.

Costco is also based out of the Seattle area, which is a lot closer to Montana than Maine, assuming Costco's growth more or less radiated out from there.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by d_jeffrey

Amazon.ca subscribe and save is now cheaper than Costco for many products. Only no meats... I cancelled my Costco card, and now have the joy of having my products delivered the same day every month.

i didn't know you could do that in canada

why don't they advertise or tell people about this