General Retail News

[panamaniac]

Just my guess but I could see Harvey's moving there from there current unit, if not probably a Tim Hortons or Starbucks,

It's not really Starbucks territory.  Would it be big enough to house another City Café? - they're about due for another. 

[Markster]

I wonder if this is connected to the fact that the Coffee Time at Hazel St and Albert St in Waterloo is also closed and being turned into something else.  I think it was a sandwich or sub place, but it wasn't a name that I recognized as I drove by.

It appeared to me that the Albert/Hazel Coffee Time was going to be renovated into a shiny new Coffee Time.

[panamaniac]

From today's Record:  

Gloss Fashion Boutique & Salon in downtown Kitchener, 87 King St. W., is on the move; but an exact location has yet to be determined. Owner Rebecca Lofsnes said she'd like to "remain downtown or close by," but she's open to relocating outside the core. She cites, in part, the cost to lease space and the impact of construction, as reasons behind the move.

Lofsnes relocated to downtown Kitchener from uptown Waterloo in 2010. She will remain open at her current location until early July. However, she hopes to extend her lease to take advantage of the special events that draw people downtown during the summer. In February, Gloss added a new component — consignment sales.

[Coke6pk]

Just my guess but I could see Harvey's moving there from there current unit, if not probably a Tim Hortons or Starbucks,

It's not really Starbucks territory.  Would it be big enough to house another City Café? - they're about due for another. 

How not?  There is one at Westmount/Fisher-Hallman, one at Fisher-Hallman/Ottawa, and a former one at Ottawa/Strasburg .... that makes that location primo Starbucks it would seem (While Stanley Park has none....  )

[The85]

Interesting to note that Ikea announced today they are opening a new concept 20,000 square foot "pick-up" store in London:

http://www.lfpress.com/2015/05/13/ikea-coming-to-london 

According to the London Free Press, a second similar concept location will be announced Thursday. 

[Spokes]

I've always been shocked that London didn't have one, but thought if they did get a location it would hurt our chances.

Anyone know how 20,000 sq ft compares to their other locations?

Edit:  From the article, 1/10 of the size of a normal Ikea store.

[jamincan]

Even smaller really; the latest stores they have been opening have been in the neighbourhood of 400,000 sq ft.

[BuildingScout]

IKEA considered a London-KW store located somewhere in the middle about 12 years ago. In the end this went nowhere. The new small store in London means that this idea is now completely dead.

Since KW is bigger than London and growing rapidly, I wonder if this means that a similar store is in the works for the RoW. OTOH Ikea execs might think that Burlington is close enough.

[Canard]

I wouldn't say its dead. Toronto has 4...

[ookpik]

IKEA considered a London-KW store located somewhere in the middle about 12 years ago. In the end this went nowhere. The new small store in London means that this idea is now completely dead.

Since KW is bigger than London and growing rapidly, I wonder if this means that a similar store is in the works for the RoW. 

I believe the threshold metropolitan population for a full size IKEA store in Canada is around 1 million. (That's why Toronto has several stores but RoW still has none.) 

Presumably the smaller "pick-up" stores are intended for smaller populations like ours and London's. So I'm optimistic that we'll get something soon.

OTOH Ikea execs might think that Burlington is close enough.

Evidently they've never driven between K-W and Burlington, especially during rush hours.

[BuildingScout]

I believe the threshold metropolitan population for a full size IKEA store in Canada is around 1 million. (That's why Toronto has several stores but RoW still has none.) 

It's a bit more complicated than that. Greater Winnipeg has only 650K in population, but the catchment area is nearly 1.3M so there's an IKEA there.

Greater Halifax on the other hand has a much smaller population  and a catchment area of 0.9M people so the IKEA store there actually closed down.

There are 10 pick up stores in the works across Canada. Natural candidates would be, from East to West: Halifax, Moncton (serving NB and PEI), Quebec City, Kingston, KFC, London, Sudbury/Sault St. Marie, Regina/Saskatoon, Kelowna/Kamloops, Victoria.

I'm excluding Windsor and Niagara Falls because I'm assuming people would cross the border and buy in the cheaper US store anyhow.

[panamaniac]

I believe the threshold metropolitan population for a full size IKEA store in Canada is around 1 million. (That's why Toronto has several stores but RoW still has none.) 

It's a bit more complicated than that. Greater Winnipeg has only 650K in population, but the catchment area is nearly 1.3M so there's an IKEA there.

Greater Halifax on the other hand has a much smaller population  and a catchment area of 0.9M people so the IKEA store there actually closed down.

There are 10 pick up stores in the works across Canada. Natural candidates would be, from East to West: Halifax, Moncton (serving NB and PEI), Quebec City, Kingston, KFC, London, Sudbury/Sault St. Marie, Regina/Saskatoon, Kelowna/Kamloops, Victoria.

I'm excluding Windsor and Niagara Falls because I'm assuming people would cross the border and buy in the cheaper US store anyhow.

Typo, or a moniker for the CMA that I've not seen before? 

[BuildingScout]

Typo, or a moniker for the CMA that I've not seen before? 

I dislike the KWC moniker, so I sometimes use KFC instead for levity.

[panamaniac]

It could catch on.

[KevinL]

Quebec City is the second location for the small-format IKEA.