Canadian Retail Thread

[harls]

Giant Tiger seems to be cleaning up their stores a lot these past few years. The one near my place was renovated recently. It no longer smells like burning plastic every time you walk in the door.. unlike the Canadian tire across the street.. man that place is a dump. Horrible know-nothing employees, rows of unlabeled merchandise (usually out of stock anyway), lineups for returned items (ALL the time, I have never seen that desk empty)... probably because all of the junk they sell there is either broken or missing parts.. or the people that bought it came to their senses and realized they actually bought something from Canadian Tire...

... and that money... what a joke and waste of time. Just give me the 0.001% rebate now and keep your crumpled germy cash to yourself.

[eemy]

I would definitely say that The Bay is higher end than Sears.

[Boris2k7]

I don't think I've ever associated "Sears" with "high end."

And Zellers was trashy.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

I don't think I've ever associated "Sears" with "high end."

And Zellers was trashy.

Sears is firmly mid-market, but they have really let the quality of their men's and women's clothing slip.

Giant Tiger has spruced up, but it's still low-end. I did go in just last week to buy some knit gloves, something I wasn't able to find anywhere else. Came out with a jug of distilled water and four tins of soup as well!

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Sears is firmly mid-market, but they have really let the quality of their men's and women's clothing slip.

Giant Tiger has spruced up, but it's still low-end. I did go in just last week to buy some knit gloves, something I wasn't able to find anywhere else. Came out with a jug of distilled water and four tins of soup as well!

I went into Sears to buy some new leather gloves and a string of Christmas lights in December, thinking it would be one of few stores to carry both things with a reasonable selection. Left the store with neither, as they had stopped selling mens accessories except for belts and didn't stock christmas lights in their seasonal section or in hardware.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

I went into Sears to buy some new leather gloves and a string of Christmas lights in December, thinking it would be one of few stores to carry both things with a reasonable selection. Left the store with neither, as they had stopped selling mens accessories except for belts and didn't stock christmas lights in their seasonal section or in hardware.

Definitely not moving in the right direction, imho. They seem to do better with homewares, bedding, and appliances, but that's not the main draw for a department store. I'm not sure why they haven't attempted to up their game the way Hudson's Bay has.

[big W]

Target has 6 stores in the Edmonton area with 4 in the City, one in St Albert and one in Sherwood Park.

The West Edmonton Mall Target space probably has the tenants waiting. Nordstrom or Saks which were both looking for space in WEM so one of them will probably take over this store. Then when Sears closes in WEM as we know it will probably happen soon enough, whomever does not get the Target space will take over the Sears space.

The Kingsway location I could see being split into smaller stores with a few tenants taking the space (some upstairs and some downstairs). Its a pretty busy mall but I cant see a large anchor taking up all the space. We will likely see some middle sized retailers taking up large chucks of the space. Something along the line of a Winners/Marshalls, a Dollarama, Old Navy and Forever 21. Basically retailers that usually take up a decent amount of space and are not in the mall right now.

Bonnie Doon and Millwoods Malls are dead malls to begin with so I would say those locations are doomed as I do not see anyone lining up to go there.

[MolsonExport]

I think the shopping mall crisis that began in Bari is now hitting our shores. Bunker down.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Boris2k7

I don't think I've ever associated "Sears" with "high end."

And Zellers was trashy.

zellers was awful. in all the comments i read on facebook, the majority over the time target was being trashed and how much people missed zellers, the reason they missed zellers was the restaurant, they missed their zellers restaurants, they hated it being replaced by a starbucks.

either way I can't imagine Hudson's Bay would bring zellers back, its gone too upscale now, if anything they could roll out their outlet store concept which i believe only exists in ontario at this time

The mall in grande prairie's only anchor is target - i wonder what it can do with nothing to take over the space

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by harls

... and that money... what a joke and waste of time. Just give me the 0.001% rebate now and keep your crumpled germy cash to yourself.

They've finally introduced "point" cards (but with Canadian Tire Money). It will make things much easier with the new system than counting up 10 years of Canadian Tire Money 5-10¢ at a time.

[miketoronto]

This should be a lesson that we need to support and build up Canadian business again. Canada until the 1990's had such great Canadian stores, and we have watched almost all of them close.

I also did not get how people thought Zellers was bad. It carried the same stuff as Walmart. Target in turn carried the same stuff Zellers and Walmart does. The only difference is the name. These stores are place to go buy soap and mops. Yet people were acting like Target was some special store. It is not. It is just a discount store for daily needs.

Funny Target could not make a go of it here, but they do well in Australia.

[Trevor3]

Zellers was a mess. Everytime I went in there I had to dig through a pile of stuff to find something because everything was knocked of the shelves and sitting in the bin at the bottom. They were mostly dark and dingy, outdated, overall they were just depressing to go into. There was a relatively new (mid-late 90s) Zellers in St. John's that looked like it was straight out of 1985 inside.

Plus everything at Zellers was about 10% more expensive than at Walmart. Why anybody ever shopped there...

Giant Tiger has done well updating their stores and opening new ones with an expansion into Nova Scotia. I'm hopeful they come into Newfoundland next. We have Rossy, but it smells weird. Both their Stephenville and Corner Brook stores have some strange smell that goes right through the mall in both cases. I'd much rather have Giant Tiger.

[Policy Wonk]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

Canada until the 1990's had such great Canadian stores, and we have watched almost all of them close.

No we didn't. Great stores that is.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

This should be a lesson that we need to support and build up Canadian business again. Canada until the 1990's had such great Canadian stores, and we have watched almost all of them close.

I also did not get how people thought Zellers was bad. It carried the same stuff as Walmart. Target in turn carried the same stuff Zellers and Walmart does. The only difference is the name. These stores are place to go buy soap and mops. Yet people were acting like Target was some special store. It is not. It is just a discount store for daily needs.

Funny Target could not make a go of it here, but they do well in Australia.

i liked the nate berkus and threshold lines at target i will miss them. also they were the only store to carry anatomicals, a great new brand

http://www.anatomicals.net/aliens/


4.bp.blogspot.com

they were always on trend and much cheaper than pottery barn, west elm, CB2 and crate and barrel etc. they basically copied what those stores carried at an affordable price point

the australian target stores are not related to the US target, they only licensed the name

[miketoronto]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

they were always on trend and much cheaper than pottery barn, west elm, CB2 and crate and barrel etc. they basically copied what those stores carried at an affordable price point

If you like crappy made in China items. The prices at Target are cheaper for a reason.

I think we as a society may need to move back towards buying less but better quality items.

I really don't get the hate on for Zellers. Except for a few different items, it was basically Target with a different name.

[Gerrard]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

If you like crappy made in China items. The prices at Target are cheaper for a reason.

I think we as a society may need to move back towards buying less but better quality items.

I really don't get the hate on for Zellers. Except for a few different items, it was basically Target with a different name.

Zellers was disgusting. Understaffed and most of their merchandise appeared as though it had been sitting there for over a decade. Their electronics section was especially out of date. The state of the stores with drop ceilings and cracked floor tiles was another reason to never shop there.

Pottery Barn, CB2, west elm etc. are all made in China too. So is Burberry for that matter.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

If you like crappy made in China items. The prices at Target are cheaper for a reason.

I think we as a society may need to move back towards buying less but better quality items.

I really don't get the hate on for Zellers. Except for a few different items, it was basically Target with a different name.

Many people can't afford those items though, especially in smaller cities/rural areas and in inner-city areas. That is why dollar stores have proliferated (the US especially, there are like 20,000 total of Family Dollar and Dollar General nowadays, and they are in every small town).

A trade area under about 500,000 people most likely can't support any upscale options.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Gerrard

Zellers was disgusting. Understaffed and most of their merchandise appeared as though it had been sitting there for over a decade. Their electronics section was especially out of date. The state of the stores with drop ceilings and cracked floor tiles was another reason to never shop there.
.

Yeah, I found that when they switched over my local Zellers to a Target it came with a major freshening up of the store. It looked a lot better and was much less of a depressing shopping experience. Not that I went there much more though...

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by miketoronto

I also did not get how people thought Zellers was bad.

Funny Target could not make a go of it here, but they do well in Australia.

Zellers was awful, full stop.

Target in Australia shares nothing with Target in the USA except the name. Same as A&W restaurants in Canada are completely unaffiliated with those south of the border. Weird but true.

Target Australia Pty Ltd is an Australian department store chain owned by the Wesfarmers Group (formerly by Coles Group). It operates 183 Target stores and 125 Target Country stores across Australia making 308 combined stores[2] with its national store support office located in North Geelong, Victoria. It sells clothing, cosmetics, toys, homewares, electrical and consumer electronics. Rights to the Target logo and name were granted to Myer Emporium Ltd. (later Coles Group), by the Dayton Hudson Corporation (now known as Target Corporation); aside from this, the two companies are unrelated.

[OTSkyline]

Giant Tiger sees 'opportunity' in Target's departure
Published on: January 15, 2015 | Last Updated: January 15, 2015 9:53 PM EST
​
Greg Farrell, president and chief operating officer of Giant Tiger, said the Ottawa-based discount chain may take over portions of some Target outlets.

Just minutes after Target announced it will close its Canadian stores, the phones began ringing at the Giant Tiger headquarters in Ottawa. Anxious landlords wanted to know if the discount retailer was interested in suddenly available prime locations.

Giant Tiger’s response? Let’s talk.

“They’re worried about their position and trying to mitigate it as much as possible,” Giant Tiger president and chief operating officer Greg Farrell said Thursday. “It may be an opportunity for us in a number of those locations.”

Any property owner hoping Giant Tiger will take over a full Target space is being over-optimistic, however. The budget-goods specialist says it has no plan to veer from the smaller-is-better strategy that saw it move into only portions of former Zellers stores that Target rejected in its 2011 push into Canada.

“But absolutely, there’s quite a number of locations where we’d like to be in part of their space,” said Farrell.

There’s nothing small-scale about the aggressive pricing and marketing approaches that have helped Giant Tiger progress in the face of competition from U.S.- and Canadian-based chains and the ever-growing online retail alternative. After briefly putting itself up for sale in 2013, the 54-year-old chain rededicated itself to a long-term renovation and expansion strategy.

Giant Tiger has 206 outlets and another 13 in development — a number likely to grow as it examines Target locations.

Farrell said he had expected an early decision on Target’s Canadian future after its U.S. parent ousted CEO Gregg Steinhafel and installed Brian Cornell at the helm in July. But he called the move to send the Canadian division into creditor protection “a little surprising” because of its potential to damage relations with suppliers and lenders.

Privately held by founder Gordon Reid and others, Giant Tiger does not disclose financial results, but Farrell said returns have been generally strong and “the past season was a good season for us.”

He expects the impact of Target’s departure to vary by market, with the potential for increased sales in some but the prospect of increased competition in places where a high-volume retailer such as Walmart takes over. Walmart was among the bidders for the Zellers leases and now may want to pick up some of the pieces.

Farrell doesn’t, however, believe other U.S.-based chains will eye expansion north. Since Target, Nordstrom and other retailers crossed the border, the Canadian and U.S. economies have gone in different directions. More job growth and less consumer debt in the U.S. makes investment there more appealing.

Despite the opportunities for Giant Tiger, Farrell said he doesn’t welcome the manner in which Target is departing.

“We don’t like to see anyone fail, because of what that does to the Canadian economy, to the people that are going to lose their jobs, (and) to the vendors that are potentially going to get stuck with some bad debts on this one, because they’re also our vendors in many cases.”

rbostelaar@ottawacitizen.com

twitter.com/robt_bostelaar


http://ottawacitizen.com/business/lo...gets-departure