Canadian Retail Thread

[ue]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Interesting that their first store outside Quebec was in Edmonton. Is Edmonton a good test market for new retailing?

I don't know if this is a true story, but growing up in Peterborough, people used to tell me that our city was extremely average in every possible way, and we were used as a test market for mid-market shopping and new grocery stores.

Edmonton is often a test-market for new retailers, I've heard. I'm sure the disposable income also helps. We will also be getting a second location at Londonderry Mall on the northside in 2017. It's an interesting move because Londonderry is not a tier-1 mall in the Edmonton region, but nearby Kingsway is. Londonderry is undergoing a major renovation and Simons is taking over the current Army & Navy store.

I hope if Simons opens a 3rd location in Edmonton, it's downtown somewhere (Arena "Ice" District, renovated City Centre?), but I also feel like the southside will be their next target (probably Southgate if room allows).


http://www.retail-insider.com/retail...imons-edmonton

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Interesting that their first store outside Quebec was in Edmonton. Is Edmonton a good test market for new retailing?

I don't know if this is a true story, but growing up in Peterborough, people used to tell me that our city was extremely average in every possible way, and we were used as a test market for mid-market shopping and new grocery stores.

Not even from Peterborough and I've heard this also.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

Interesting that their first store outside Quebec was in Edmonton. Is Edmonton a good test market for new retailing?

I don't know if this is a true story, but growing up in Peterborough, people used to tell me that our city was extremely average in every possible way, and we were used as a test market for mid-market shopping and new grocery stores.

edmonton is used a lot for testing out american stores and restaurants, edmonton has a buy buy baby - the baby store of bed bath and beyond, it will probably start rolling out across canada in the next while

it also has the first H&M home store which is being tested out before expanding in canada

there was an article not too long ago in the news about why and how often Edmonton is used as a test market for US restaurants and stores looking to expand into canada

I know a lot of stores and restaurants open in edmonton before they get to vancouver, a lot of restaurants like chilis, red lobster, harveys and olive garden are common in edmonton and barely have any presence in vancouver area or BC in general

[ue]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

edmonton is used a lot for testing out american stores and restaurants, edmonton has a buy buy baby - the baby store of bed bath and beyond, it will probably start rolling out across canada in the next while

it also has the first H&M home store which is being tested out before expanding in canada

there was an article not too long ago in the news about why and how often Edmonton is used as a test market for US restaurants and stores looking to expand into canada

I know a lot of stores and restaurants open in edmonton before they get to vancouver, a lot of restaurants like chilis, red lobster, harveys and olive garden are common in edmonton and barely have any presence in vancouver area or BC in general

Harveys is across Canada. Chilis is only in Edmonton and Calgary, as is Olive Garden I think. Not sure about Red Lobster. I know Ontario has some American chains (GTA or Niagara Falls) not found anywhere else in Canada. Fuddruckers is only in Saskatoon.

Edmonton is also where a lot of big Canadian restaurant companies (Earls, Boston Pizza, Famoso, Booster Juice, etc) started out.

[SpongeG]

we have one olive garden in vancouver - well its in langley a suburb, and one harveys on granville street, one in the airport and there used to be some inside home depot stores but no stand alone ones other than the granville street one

there were some east side marios but i think they closed all the BC locations

cineplex is testing out a new theatre concept in edmonton, it looks like it will have a bar and restaurant, more so than the VIP concept they have all over the place now

[tyeman200]

Originally Posted by ue

Harveys is across Canada. Chilis is only in Edmonton and Calgary, as is Olive Garden I think. Not sure about Red Lobster. I know Ontario has some American chains (GTA or Niagara Falls) not found anywhere else in Canada. Fuddruckers is only in Saskatoon.

Edmonton is also where a lot of big Canadian restaurant companies (Earls, Boston Pizza, Famoso, Booster Juice, etc) started out.

Red lobster is mainly in Ontario (20 locations in main cities), 4 in Alberta (2 in Calgary, 2 In Edmonton), 2 in Saskatchewan (Regina & Saskatoon) and 1 in Winnipeg, MB. I work at one of them if you're wondering why I know this lol.

I know they never had any in BC. Quebec had a few of them, but closed down in the 90s, as well as a bunch of them in Ontario that weren't doing good/not making money (Guelph, Cambridge, Hamilton, The one in Sarnia burned down and wasn't replaced). A lot of the Red Lobsters in Ontario are Ponderosa Remodels, but the ones in the west were all built as a Red Lobster.

[casper]

Originally Posted by ue

Harveys is across Canada. Chilis is only in Edmonton and Calgary, as is Olive Garden I think. Not sure about Red Lobster. I know Ontario has some American chains (GTA or Niagara Falls) not found anywhere else in Canada. Fuddruckers is only in Saskatoon.

Edmonton is also where a lot of big Canadian restaurant companies (Earls, Boston Pizza, Famoso, Booster Juice, etc) started out.

Chillis is also in Saskatoon.

I remember Red Lobsters in the Bay Centre in downtown Toronto some 20 years ago.

[Acajack]

Olive Garden used to have quite a few locations in Ontario. I remember there being one on Montreal Rd. in east end Ottawa. They are all gone I think.

Chuck E. Cheese has a few locations in southern Ontario. As do Ruby Tuesday's, TGI Friday's and also Applebees (I think).

So do Perkins and Denny's.

[Jaws]

Carl's Jr. is also in Edmonton and I've never seen another one in Canada.

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Olive Garden used to have quite a few locations in Ontario. I remember there being one on Montreal Rd. in east end Ottawa. They are all gone I think.

Chuck E. Cheese has a few locations in southern Ontario. As do Ruby Tuesday's, TGI Friday's and also Applebees (I think).

So do Perkins and Denny's.

IIRC, in the 90's Red Lobster/ Olive Garden (same company I believe) did a contraction in Canada.

Red Lobster abandoned Ontario and focused on Quebec, while Olive Garden abandoned Quebec and focused on Ontario; or at least that's the story I remember being said when it happened. The chains may have expanded since then, I don't know.

I do know I saw Denny's and Perkins in Ottawa back in the day. Not sure how wide spread they are.

Most of these chains don't bother going past Quebec in any case, if they even reach La Belle Province. Often it seems we're lucky to see the Canadian Chains spread into the Maritimes, let alone the US ones. But it has helped some native Maritime chains to establish and maintain footholds here for the most part. (Smithy's for a time, Pizza Delight, Greco, Mike's, etc... ) Now that the bigger chains are noticing us, the local chains do seem to be faltering a bit.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

IIRC, in the 90's Red Lobster/ Olive Garden (same company I believe) did a contraction in Canada.

Red Lobster abandoned Ontario and focused on Quebec, while Olive Garden abandoned Quebec and focused on Ontario; or at least that's the story I remember being said when it happened. The chains may have expanded since then, I don't know.

I do know I saw Denny's and Perkins in Ottawa back in the day. Not sure how wide spread they are.

Most of these chains don't bother going past Quebec in any case, if they even reach La Belle Province. Often it seems we're lucky to see the Canadian Chains spread into the Maritimes, let alone the US ones. But it has helped some native Maritime chains to establish and maintain footholds here for the most part. (Smithy's for a time, Pizza Delight, Greco, Mike's, etc... ) Now that the bigger chains are noticing us, the local chains do seem to be faltering a bit.

There are no Olive Gardens in Quebec and I can't recall ever seeing any. Red Lobster is totally gone from Quebec. There was one almost 20 years here in Gatineau, then it became a Hooters I think then a brasserie called La Chaumière Québécoise and now it's a Vieux Duluth (bring your own wine Greek-ish chain out of Montreal).

Perkins also failed here and the location is now a St-Hubert clone Quebec chain called Scores.

There are no Denny's in Quebec AFAIK.

Kelsey's also failed here as did Swiss Chalet.

Boston Pizza seems to be able to survive in Quebec though. As does Casey's in some places I think.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Jaws

Carl's Jr. is also in Edmonton and I've never seen another one in Canada.

There's a Carl's Jr. in Vancouver at the corner of Howe and Dunsmuir, which is a very odd location to have a fast food restaurant. That's the only one I know of here.

BC has a couple of its own chains which are ubiquitous in the province, but nowhere else:

London Drugs (there's a couple in AB), has a very strange business model of selling absolutely everything except food in a relatively small format;

Save-on-Foods (their owner always does cheesy ads - kind of like what Dave Thomas used to do for Wendy's);

White Spot (also the fast food restaurant on the BC ferry system)

etc.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Olive Garden used to have quite a few locations in Ontario. I remember there being one on Montreal Rd. in east end Ottawa. They are all gone I think.

Chuck E. Cheese has a few locations in southern Ontario. As do Ruby Tuesday's, TGI Friday's and also Applebees (I think).

So do Perkins and Denny's.

Are there any other Perkins in Ontario apart from the one on St Laurent? I always thought it was an outlier.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Are there any other Perkins in Ontario apart from the one on St Laurent? I always thought it was an outlier.

They have locations here and there in Ontario. Not too many though.

[ue]

Dennys are common in Alberta.

Originally Posted by hipster duck

There's a Carl's Jr. in Vancouver at the corner of Howe and Dunsmuir, which is a very odd location to have a fast food restaurant. That's the only one I know of here.

BC has a couple of its own chains which are ubiquitous in the province, but nowhere else:

London Drugs (there's a couple in AB), has a very strange business model of selling absolutely everything except food in a relatively small format;

Save-on-Foods (their owner always does cheesy ads - kind of like what Dave Thomas used to do for Wendy's);

White Spot (also the fast food restaurant on the BC ferry system)

etc.

London Drugs has Alberta pretty well covered. Their coverage peters out in Saskatchewan and then Manitoba has just one location. Strange they haven't expanded more out there.

Save-On Foods is also in Edmonton. They tested the Calgary marked in the late '90s and failed but I hear they are trying to re-enter the market.

There is one White Spot in Leduc that I know of, but yeah, more of a BC thing.

[esquire]

Originally Posted by ue

London Drugs has Alberta pretty well covered. Their coverage peters out in Saskatchewan and then Manitoba has just one location. Strange they haven't expanded more out there.

Yeah, there has been just the one London Drugs in Winnipeg for some time now... probably about 7 or 8 years now. If there was one a bit closer to me I'd probably be a regular. Very strange that they would go to the trouble of opening one single store here.

Save-On Foods is expanding to MB and SK as well... they recently announced their first locations.

[hipster duck]

London Drugs would be an interesting business case study. They seem to do okay, and yet they sell everything that a WalMart might sell in an area the size of a small grocery store. Their stores have barely any on site storage/warehousing space to speak of. Even more interestingly, they seem to be pioneers of urbanization, often opening up in the base of new condo projects that other large format retailers get cold feet over.

Learning that they have a single store in Winnipeg - 1000 km away from their next closest one - intrigues me even more.

[TownGuy]

Originally Posted by Jaws

Carl's Jr. is also in Edmonton and I've never seen another one in Canada.

Seen a couple of these in Toronto.

[DAVEinEDMONTON]

Originally Posted by ue

Dennys are common in Alberta.



London Drugs has Alberta pretty well covered. Their coverage peters out in Saskatchewan and then Manitoba has just one location. Strange they haven't expanded more out there.

Save-On Foods is also in Edmonton. They tested the Calgary marked in the late '90s and failed but I hear they are trying to re-enter the market.

There is one White Spot in Leduc that I know of, but yeah, more of a BC thing.

White Spot has a location in south Edmonton as well as a lunch counter in the Royal Alex Hospital.

As for Edmonton's history of being a test market, that has been the case for some years. The demographics of the population serves the test market well in Edmonton for lots of US chains checking out the Canadian market.

For years, the market was somewhat forgotten when it came to fast food. In early years, A &W dominated the burger market around the 1960s and early 1970s. However, McDonalds came in around the mid - 1970s. When they published their results in around the late 70s/early 80s and provided data on their top ten stores, it happened that 3 of them were in Edmonton. That started a revolution of the fast food giants coming to town and taking over. Burger King was one of the last ones to come due to the fact that Edmonton had a local Burger King attached to KFC franchises and they had rights to the name. They eventually sold the rights for huge dollars.

Earls, Boston Pizza, Booster Juice are some of the many chains that have their beginnings in Edmonton.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Jaws

Carl's Jr. is also in Edmonton and I've never seen another one in Canada.

There's one in Uptown Waterloo.