General Retail News

[panamaniac]

The former Entertaining Elements on King W was all lit up this evening. Somebody in to move the dust around or prospective tenant checking it out, I wonder?

[KevinL]

The Red Apple (former Bargain Shop) at Forest Glen Plaza, which has been closed now for the better part of a year, appears to be preparing to reopen. Workers were bringing in boxes this morning and signs in the windows are soliciting resumes. A bit surprising, as I had thought that closure was permanent.

Also at Forest Glen, the No Frills is wrapping up its renovation. The 'garage' area - the dingy, unheated cart corral just inside the doors - has been converted into new office space and the interior finishings updated (including new stock fridges and freezers).

[KevinL]

The Red Apple (former Bargain Shop) at Forest Glen Plaza, which has been closed now for the better part of a year, appears to be preparing to reopen. Workers were bringing in boxes this morning and signs in the windows are soliciting resumes. A bit surprising, as I had thought that closure was permanent.

An overlapping sign has replaced the Red Apple logo - this is to be a Bargain Shop clearance outlet. 

[Section ThirtyOne]

The Red Apple (former Bargain Shop) at Forest Glen Plaza, which has been closed now for the better part of a year, appears to be preparing to reopen. Workers were bringing in boxes this morning and signs in the windows are soliciting resumes. A bit surprising, as I had thought that closure was permanent.

An overlapping sign has replaced the Red Apple logo - this is to be a Bargain Shop clearance outlet. 

That must be an interesting assortment of items.

[ookpik]

An overlapping sign has replaced the Red Apple logo - this is to be a Bargain Shop clearance outlet. 

That must be an interesting assortment of items.

Especially food items. Somehow I have this vision of expired food that didn't sell even when initially discounted at 30% or 50% and is now "on clearance" at even larger discounts.

[dunkalunk]

An IKEA is coming to Gateway Park. Likely one of their smaller pick-up points.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-...-1.3332494

[Viewfromthe42]

Queen of Hearts Costumes is becoming online-only, and will give up their UpTown location.

[ookpik]

Likely one of their smaller pick-up points.

From TFA, "The company describes the Kitchener store as a pick up and order point location, a type of store where Ikea customers can pick up their online orders closer to where they live. "

I'd rather see a full store, of course, but being able to pick up or return online purchases certainly beats a drive to Burlington (especially since for some of us "IKEA" has become the Swedish acronym for "out of stock.")

[KevinL]

Gateway Park! I called it!

They will also have a reasonable selection of smaller items (aka the downstairs 'marketplace' of their full stores) for immediate purchase.

[clasher]

I'm glad there isn't a regular ikea coming to town, they're huge traffic nightmares and their products are cheap garbage that's probably made by near sweatshop labour and out of poached timber. They're like a wal-mart that specializes in furniture and they have slick marketing that makes people feel good about it.

[mpd618]

They're like a wal-mart that specializes in furniture and they have slick marketing that makes people feel good about it.

BS. Their differentiation is that the furniture is generally well-designed, often suitable for compact spaces, relatively inexpensive, and really straight-forward to assemble. They probably use the same kind of supply chain as pretty much everyone else, that's true.

[panamaniac]

Is the new IKEA space the building currently housing the SEARS Home store? I would have thought that would be rather big for a "pick-up" store.

[Section ThirtyOne]

I'm glad there isn't a regular ikea coming to town, they're huge traffic nightmares and their products are cheap garbage that's probably made by near sweatshop labour and out of poached timber. They're like a wal-mart that specializes in furniture and they have slick marketing that makes people feel good about it.

Can't say I necessarily agree with this statement. Like many retailers, I find you have to pick and choose what you're buying from Ikea. While they do have a lot of crap that was designed to meet a price point, they do have a lot of items that are well engineered and offer good value. Kitchen cabinets are one item that jump out at me as being a good quality item.

[JoeKW]

So it seems you have to pay $20 for the convenience of picking up your items at this store? I've never really seen that before...

[taylortbb]

So it seems you have to pay $20 for the convenience of picking up your items at this store?  I've never really seen that before...

Currently delivery from Burlington Ikea starts at $60, and increases for larger orders. In that context a flat rate $20 option doesn't seem too bad for large things that you don't want to or can't transport from Burlington to home. Plus there's the popular small items which they'll have in stock, and presumably without fee.