General Retail News

[danbrotherston]

 Too bad about the wholesale club though. 

Oh, the Wholesale Club will remain (it's in the rear unit of the building). This will finally see both units activated.

So they're replacing National Sports?

Seems odd to have two discount grocers in the same building...doubly so since they are both loblaws brands...maybe they're expecting some synergy from being co-located...but it seems like combining a discount grocer with a mid- or up- market grocer would make sense...

Maybe I need an MBA to see the logic there.

[razzie13]

Oh, the Wholesale Club will remain (it's in the rear unit of the building). This will finally see both units activated.

So they're replacing National Sports?

Seems odd to have two discount grocers in the same building...doubly so since they are both loblaws brands...maybe they're expecting some synergy from being co-located...but it seems like combining a discount grocer with a mid- or up- market grocer would make sense...

Maybe I need an MBA to see the logic there.

National Sports as a chain was shuttered. Loblaws owns the building and determined a need for a discount grocer in the area, and had the space.

Wholesale Club isn't a discount grocer - they cater more to business, although anyone can shop there. Most discount grocers don't sell massive ice cream tubs, huge vacuum sealed meat cuts etc.

[tomh009]

Wholesale Club isn't a discount grocer - they cater more to business, although anyone can shop there. Most discount grocers don't sell massive ice cream tubs, huge vacuum sealed meat cuts etc.

Yes. Wholesale Club is what Price Club/Costco initially pretended to be, primarily selling wholesale to businesses.

[ZEBuilder]

Seems like Lowes is leaving Canada and The Rona name will he making a major come back.
https://retail-insider.com/retail-inside...uity-firm/

Today Rona announced that they will be switching all Lowes stores to a new brand called Rona+, this seems to be a way to distinguish between corporately owned stores and privately owned stores that are affiliated with Rona and hence use the name. These conversions are expected to start in July and the first 10 converted will be all stores in southern Ontario including the 3 Lowe's stores in the region (Cambridge, Waterloo and Kitchener). If the rebrand is anything like the computer system switch (Lowes system to Rona system) they will switch at least one store a week, and all the stores in the region will be switched at similar times.

https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ro...79914.html

[KevinL]

With Lowe's leaving Canada, all their locations are reverting to Rona; in our area the changeover is July 27th. The Kitchener store is already getting the exterior signs changed.

[timio]

The Boardwalk is already Rona+

[ZEBuilder]

The Boardwalk is already Rona+

Signage wise yes, but officially not until the 27th. There's still a few more internal things that have to change before it's officially Rona+. All store employees are still wearing Lowe's vests for example. And alot of internal signage still has the Lowe's name. The Cambridge store is also done with its new external signage, all that is left in the region for external signage is the Kitchener store which they were painting yesterday.

[KevinL]

With Lowe's leaving Canada, all their locations are reverting to Rona; in our area the changeover is July 27th. The Kitchener store is already getting the exterior signs changed.

Rebrand complete!

[ac3r]

Canadian Tire will be expanding its store at 650 Erb West, Waterloo.

Canadian Tire is proposing to increase the size of the store by constructing additions to rear and sides of the existing store. The garden centre will be relocated to another section of the parking lot to accommodate the addition.

Zoning bylaw changes requested include:

• increase the maximum floor area for a Home and Auto Supply Store to 9,681 square metres
  
• increase the total floor area for the property to 11,000 square metres
  
• reduce the street line setback along Erbsville Road from 7.5 metres to 4.5 metres
  
• reduce the landscape buffer along Erbsville Road from 6.0 metres to 4.5 metres, and permit a retaining wall, walkways, utilities, and signage within the buffer
  

[SF22]

Canadian Tire will be expanding its store at 650 Erb West, Waterloo.

Canadian Tire is proposing to increase the size of the store by constructing additions to rear and sides of the existing store. The garden centre will be relocated to another section of the parking lot to accommodate the addition.

Zoning bylaw changes requested include:

• increase the maximum floor area for a Home and Auto Supply Store to 9,681 square metres
  
• increase the total floor area for the property to 11,000 square metres
  
• reduce the street line setback along Erbsville Road from 7.5 metres to 4.5 metres
  
• reduce the landscape buffer along Erbsville Road from 6.0 metres to 4.5 metres, and permit a retaining wall, walkways, utilities, and signage within the buffer
  

Canadian Tire must be doing alright these days, they're also building a whole new facility at Stanley Park Mall in the former Walmart space.

[ac3r]

Yep, they're doing good for themselves. Just check the stock price and history of CTC.TO (the common/voting stock ticker) and CTC-A.TO (the non-voting stock). Both have seen all time highs in the last 2 years even despite the pandemic (though overall it was a bit of a bull market due to the money being printed - everything kinda went up 2021-2022). The general analysist consensus at the moment is primarily giving it a Buy or Strong Buy rating, meaning investors have a lot of confidence in the company though I think some analysts/banks did downgrade their price targets. However, just a couple days ago they did note a 3.4% drop in revenue (to $4.26 billion) citing the broad downturn in consumer spending the world is seeing, causing them to retract their targets for 2024-2025. So far though they still seem to be operating as usual, with expansions of stores and new partnerships with other businesses like Petro-Canada.

[Chris]

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2023/08/10...-64-years/

Towne Bowl closing after 64 years

[ZEBuilder]

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2023/08/10...-64-years/

Towne Bowl closing after 64 years

Is the closure purely because of economics or could this be something to do with a developer buying the property? It certainly seems like a location that a developer would like especially if it got combined with the vacant lot next to it.

[Acitta]

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2023/08/10...-64-years/

Towne Bowl closing after 64 years

Is the closure purely because of economics or could this be something to do with a developer buying the property? It certainly seems like a location that a developer would like especially if it got combined with the vacant lot next to it.

How many people go bowling these days? I can't remember the last time I set foot in a bowling alley. Maybe it was 40 or 50 years ago.

[neonjoe]

Bowling is a lot more of a rounded experience with the newer lanes like Kingpin or even the renovated Frederick lanes. Towne and Victoria are both tired. But I would like to continue to see places that actually have 5 pin.