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  #3841  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2015, 1:37 AM
Trevor3 Trevor3 is offline
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Originally Posted by casper View Post
Many of the downtown stores pre-date the takeover of Eaton's.

In Vancouver after the Eatons takeover they shifted from Hasting into Pacific Centre (a few block) The Hasting location was there going back decades, a few blocks away from the Woodwards flagship store. They have now closed down the Pacific Centre store and Nordstrom is moving in. A retreat back to suburbia.

In Saskatoon, the only "full" Sears in the city is downtown.

Not certain about other cities, but I get the impression they tried to make the Eaton's stores work and then slowly left back to suburbia.

They still have this massive network of independent pickup depots in small towns across Canada for catalogue items. Some stock major appliances other stock clock. I think they have a better understanding of how to serve rural and small town Canada than say the Bay or Wallmart. In the west there are two others national companies that understand small town Canada Field's and the North West Co. (Northern).
They're called Sears Hometown Stores. Ours does exactly what you said, they stock major appliances and TVs, lawnmowers and snowblowers, and have a counter for catalogue pick-up.

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Originally Posted by eternallyme View Post
Walmart has experimented with 24 hour stores in Canada, but the traffic during the night hours didn't seem to justify opening, even though that is when a lot of stocking and shelving takes place.
Walmart here used to do 24 hour openings for the last week before Christmas. I feel like their theory was that stock employees were on shift so they may as well open a couple checkouts and try to make some sales. Don't think they've done it for a couple years though.
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  #3842  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2015, 1:57 AM
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Originally Posted by Policy Wonk View Post
Until 1972 Sears was effectively banished to the suburbs by their non-compete agreement with Simpsons and didn't open their first downtown store until 1976 and it wasn't until 1978 that the federal government shut down their arrangement with Simpsons as anti-competitive after HBC bought Simpsons.
I think that was an Central Canada thing. Simpsons did not have much of any presence in Western Canada on its own. Thought I do remember many of the Sears stores as a kid still had the name Simpsons-Sears.
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  #3843  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2015, 4:36 AM
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According to an unidentified Target employee in Toronto who was interviewed by CTV, Target Canada's operations will be shut down no later than May 16, 2015.

If I were one of the Target employees losing my job, I would apply for one of those Sears jobs, but I would also apply for many others and only take the Sears job if nobody else gave me an offer.
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  #3844  
Old Posted Jan 19, 2015, 6:46 PM
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Originally Posted by casper View Post
I think that was an Central Canada thing. Simpsons did not have much of any presence in Western Canada on its own. Thought I do remember many of the Sears stores as a kid still had the name Simpsons-Sears.
Simpsons got as far west as Regina when the non-compete with Sears was negotiated. It's funny to look back at this today because it would be so ridiculously illegal for two large retailers to establish a joint-venture and then carve up the country.
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  #3845  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 3:19 AM
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I just visited Kingston's Target tonight, and I left empty-handed. I needed some new sneakers, but what I didn't realize before now is how tiny their footwear department is - probably about 15% of what Walmart has. They had so few running shoes in stock, they had none in my size (10). Tons of empty racks. That said, I'm told the store was very busy over the weekend, with people looking for deals that haven't started yet, but considering the time of year, I'd be surprised if they sold a lot of sneakers over the weekend.

On the bright side, the staff seemed to be in good spirits. A guy working near the front door said "Welcome to our store" to me.
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  #3846  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 11:57 AM
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Jumbo Video, the last video rental store in St. John's, is closing. The end of an era.
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  #3847  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 12:15 PM
Taeolas Taeolas is offline
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Yeah I think Jumbo Video closed their last locations here in Freddy a month or two ago. Other than the Redboxes in Sobeys, I don't think there's any way to rent videos any more in town. (Maybe Scholtons and some of the convienence stores still rent but that's about it)
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  #3848  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 8:27 PM
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Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker View Post
Jumbo Video, the last video rental store in St. John's, is closing. The end of an era.
As far as I know, we still have the one in Kingston, but they're expensive compared with the independent video rental downtown - Classic Video. The one downtown still does very well - it's often busy even during weekdays. After Robin Williams died, the owner told me that every single one of their titles that he was in, even the lesser known ones, were rented out. They have specialized in a lot of classic TV shows, including an extensive Dr. Who collection, and a lot of shows you can't easily find online.
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  #3849  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 8:32 PM
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Originally Posted by manny_santos View Post
As far as I know, we still have the one in Kingston, but they're expensive compared with the independent video rental downtown - Classic Video. The one downtown still does very well - it's often busy even during weekdays. After Robin Williams died, the owner told me that every single one of their titles that he was in, even the lesser known ones, were rented out. They have specialized in a lot of classic TV shows, including an extensive Dr. Who collection, and a lot of shows you can't easily find online.
I think these cinephile specialty shops will be the only real alternative to Redbox for physical media rentals as long as DVDs/Blurays remain a common way to watch movies... kind of crazy considering how ubiquitous video rental stores used to be 20 years ago.

For what it's worth I don't mind Redboxes. Obviously the selection is a bit thin with mostly big new releases on offer, but the price can't be beat and they are really convenient. Since a few of them popped up in my neighbourhood, I have stopped using PPV movies from my cable provider.
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  #3850  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 8:41 PM
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The Mop & Pail is reporting that GoodLife Fitness may be looking at taking on some Target locations.
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  #3851  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 9:01 PM
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Originally Posted by kwoldtimer View Post
The Mop & Pail is reporting that GoodLife Fitness may be looking at taking on some Target locations.
I could see that happening in Freddy. Not the entire space; but one of the bigger Good Life gyms here was set up next to Target when Fredericton Mall converted to Uptown Centre. Currently they basically have a storefront slot that also reaches along the back of the mall behind a couple of other stores.

So I could see them chewing into the Target space, maybe setting up a Goodlife Women and Kids gym in parallel with the Goodlife Coed location already there. (They already have a similar parallel across the river here). If the stores Goodlife reaches behind want their backdoors accessible again, it could be a win for everyone.
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  #3852  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 9:05 PM
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That could work here. Target is out in the middle of nowhere, literally at the edge of the city, but there is a trailer park and some subdivisions nearby.

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  #3853  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 9:09 PM
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GoodLife has a limited presence in Quebec as they have something of a non-aggression pact with Quebec club Énergie Cardio.

There is actually an Énergie Cardio in the same complex as the Target that will be closing down near my place.

Our closed Target would be a good location for one of those mini-IKEAs, or maybe a furniture store from the Montreal area that doesn't yet have a footprint in the Outaouais.

Walmart is out of the question as they are already 1 km or less away on the same road.
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  #3854  
Old Posted Jan 20, 2015, 9:34 PM
MalcolmTucker MalcolmTucker is offline
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Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
GoodLife has a limited presence in Quebec as they have something of a non-aggression pact with Quebec club Énergie Cardio.

There is actually an Énergie Cardio in the same complex as the Target that will be closing down near my place.

Our closed Target would be a good location for one of those mini-IKEAs, or maybe a furniture store from the Montreal area that doesn't yet have a footprint in the Outaouais.

Walmart is out of the question as they are already 1 km or less away on the same road.
GoodLife and Énergie Cardio are the same company, merged in 2009.
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  #3855  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2015, 3:18 AM
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Goodlife fitness is an extremely poor substitute of an anchor. We have them all over London, some in malls (but we are talking about peripheral local malls that somehow survive despite themselves). People going for a workout are not exactly shopping-inclined when they get out.
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  #3856  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2015, 3:36 AM
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Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Goodlife fitness is an extremely poor substitute of an anchor. We have them all over London, some in malls (but we are talking about peripheral local malls that somehow survive despite themselves). People going for a workout are not exactly shopping-inclined when they get out.
not to mention half their membership probably doesn't even go there on a regular basis. I think goodlife would be terrible for many of the locations here in Calgary
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  #3857  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2015, 3:49 AM
vanatox vanatox is offline
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Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker View Post
GoodLife and Énergie Cardio are the same company, merged in 2009.
No, they are not the same company. They are partners, but they still are two distinct companies. Acajack was right with is non-agression pact.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/5440...odlife-fitness
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  #3858  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2015, 4:55 AM
memememe76 memememe76 is offline
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I would *love* it if Steve Nash Fitness World (my gym) moved into any of the Metro Vancouver Target locations--Metrotown, particularly, just because the current location on Kingsway sucks so much. Goodlife is still pretty new here, but I could see it move into the Lansdowne Mall location in Richmond.
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  #3859  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2015, 3:23 PM
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manny_santos manny_santos is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MolsonExport View Post
Goodlife fitness is an extremely poor substitute of an anchor. We have them all over London, some in malls (but we are talking about peripheral local malls that somehow survive despite themselves). People going for a workout are not exactly shopping-inclined when they get out.
Goodlife has taken over former department stores before, at least in London. The basement level of the former Eaton's at Galleria became part of a Goodlife, and the Zellers at Sherwood Forest Mall became a Goodlife. That Zellers closed during a round of closures of underperforming Zellers locations about 12-13 years ago; that store still had the mid-1970s logo up until its closure.
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  #3860  
Old Posted Jan 21, 2015, 9:42 PM
MalcolmTucker MalcolmTucker is offline
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Originally Posted by vanatox View Post
No, they are not the same company. They are partners, but they still are two distinct companies. Acajack was right with is non-agression pact.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/5440...odlife-fitness
From a Globe and Mail profile on the company:
Quote:
GoodLife also merged with Energie Cardio, a 65-club chain in Quebec, in 2009.
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