General Retail News

[panamaniac]

Lowe's paid $3.2M for RONA/Reno-Depot -- and sold them for about $530M, on top of having spent more than $1B on store renovations. Happy to have a Canadian brand back, even if owned by a US investment company, but grateful to Lowe's for having injected that much into the Canadian economy in the past 15 years or so.

$3.2B, no?

[tomh009]

Lowe's paid $3.2M for RONA/Reno-Depot -- and sold them for about $530M, on top of having spent more than $1B on store renovations. Happy to have a Canadian brand back, even if owned by a US investment company, but grateful to Lowe's for having injected that much into the Canadian economy in the past 15 years or so.

$3.2B, no?

Quite right, I'll fix that now!

[Chris]

This sucks.

An emotional farewell to Forwell Super Variety in Kitchener
https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/an-emotiona...-1.6228070


Or The Record's more in-depth coverage.

Tears, shock as longtime Forwell variety store prepares to close in Kitchener
https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...hener.html

[GtwoK]

Super unfortunate. Also can't believe the article manages to blame the closure on the mere possibility of bike lanes being installed on the street (??)

[timc]

Super unfortunate. Also can't believe the article manages to blame the closure on the mere possibility of bike lanes being installed on the street (??)

I must be missing something. The article does mention that adding bike lanes is part of the proposal, but it's a big stretch to blame the store closure on that.

What I read is that the store is not doing well, and the owners don't believe it will survive the disruption of a three-year road reconstruction project. Rather than investing the money they need to keep going now, they would rather close the store.

[bravado]

The construction would cut sales in half, said Schneider, and she doubts the business would survive under its current model of having two people working at all times for safety.

I really wonder about this sort of sentiment. I think a lot of shops vastly over-estimate the proportion of customers that drive to them, but in this case I’m curious what the mix of “local regulars” vs commuters/travellers is.

I know Central Fresh Market complained a lot during LRT construction, but again I wonder what the sales figures actually were.

[nms]

Regardless of how people get to the shop, if the site is a major construction site with shifting access, it would be a challenge for any business (just ask those stores around the LRT construction in Toronto). I could imagine that deliveries would also be affected.

[tomh009]

Super unfortunate. Also can't believe the article manages to blame the closure on the mere possibility of bike lanes being installed on the street (??)

The record article certainly does not; they have a long list of overdue maintenance and replacement items, and the owners decided that they didn't want to invest that much. The road construction may have triggered the timing, but it's not the underlying cause.

[GtwoK]

Anyone know what's going in at the old Chapters at Weber / King? As in, the Weber / King by Conestoga Mall. They've been doing extensive outdoor renovations and the inside is completely gutted too. Seems like either there's a big tenant lined up or they're trying to attract one

[SF22]

Anyone know what's going in at the old Chapters at Weber / King? As in, the Weber / King by Conestoga Mall. They've been doing extensive outdoor renovations and the inside is completely gutted too. Seems like either there's a big tenant lined up or they're trying to attract one

Goodwill is renovating the place and then moving in there. Also heard (from someone who works at the Wholesale behind the old Chapters) that No Frills will be moving into the empty National Sports storefront, but no word on when that'll be happening.

[neonjoe]

Anyone know what's going in at the old Chapters at Weber / King? As in, the Weber / King by Conestoga Mall. They've been doing extensive outdoor renovations and the inside is completely gutted too. Seems like either there's a big tenant lined up or they're trying to attract one

Goodwill store.

[Chris]

Goodwill is renovating the place and then moving in there. Also heard (from someone who works at the Wholesale behind the old Chapters) that No Frills will be moving into the empty National Sports storefront, but no word on when that'll be happening.

Interesting. Wholesale Club and No Frills are both Loblaw brands. I wonder if the costumers are distinct enough that they plan to keep both stores open.

[danbrotherston]

Goodwill is renovating the place and then moving in there. Also heard (from someone who works at the Wholesale behind the old Chapters) that No Frills will be moving into the empty National Sports storefront, but no word on when that'll be happening.

Interesting. Wholesale Club and No Frills are both Loblaw brands. I wonder if the costumers are distinct enough that they plan to keep both stores open.

Wholesale club (unlike Costco which only cosplays as a commercial supplier) has a legitimate restaurant supply business. I have no idea what % of their revenue comes from commercial supply vs. consumer business but given their product line, I'd guess it's the majority.

(Fun fact, it was a great place to buy TP at the beginning of the pandemic because you could buy the surplus commercial TP that was available).

[Acitta]

Interesting. Wholesale Club and No Frills are both Loblaw brands. I wonder if the costumers are distinct enough that they plan to keep both stores open.

Wholesale club (unlike Costco which only cosplays as a commercial supplier) has a legitimate restaurant supply business. I have no idea what % of their revenue comes from commercial supply vs. consumer business but given their product line, I'd guess it's the majority.

(Fun fact, it was a great place to buy TP at the beginning of the pandemic because you could buy the surplus commercial TP that was available).

It is a great place to shop if you need a giant container of beans or enough salsa to make tacos for 5 years.

[ac3r]

Guess what's coming back to Canada? Zellers! While most are going to be in the GTA, there will be a location opening up at Cambridge Centre Mall. Granted, they're more "pop-up" stores rather than actual retail locations: https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/zellers-is-re...-1.6235350