[Moncton] Retail Thread

[MonctonRad]

from Retail Insider:

IKEA to open string of smaller stores across Canada
Outlets one-tenth the size of a regular Ikea will be primarily for e-commerce pickups

Swedish furniture giant Ikea plans to open up to 10 smaller stores across Canada within the year, Ikea Canada president Stefan Sjöstrand told Business in Vancouver December 9.

The locations would be similar in size to a standard London Drugs, at about 37,000 square feet, or a tenth the size of a full-size Ikea, but most of that space will be for storage.

Unlike a full-size Ikea, the new so-called “pickup” stores will have counters at which Ikea workers will retrieve items for customers who ordered online. Some of the company’s future pickup stores are likely to include small retail areas.

Ikea hasn’t released exact locations, but “the pickup stores will be on the West Coast and all over the country,” Sjöstrand said. “I hope that a year from now we will have five to 10 pickup points.”

Read more:
http://www.biv.com/article/2014/12/i...across-canada/

Personal note - so, there may be hope for an IKEA store in Moncton after all, although realistically if IKEA were to locate one of these outlets in the east it would more likely be going to Halifax. It is interesting to note however that they are going to break ground in the spring for another new (unnamed) retailer in Mapleton Crossing. Hmmmmm - coincidence???

The proposed Building "G" in Mapleton Crossing is slightly over 40,000 sq ft. That's about the right size.....



All wishful thinking of course. Halifax is far more likely.

[pierremoncton]

Ikea "Express" may not be unrealistic in Moncton. I ordered furniture from Ikea a few months ago so my memory is a bit foggy, but the delivery guy told me that a bulk of orders land in Moncton and are then carted off to other parts of the province. He said they get furniture at least once a week (he may have said twice), and there are so many orders that three different local delivery companies handle Moncton alone.

[mylesmalley]

Maybe that story about IKEA opening up in Bathurst wasn't that crazy after all

[OUIR@random]

I like the idea, but a ''pickup'' counter for IKEA is nothing incredible, I mean you can order some of their stuff online and have it delivered at your home anyway. I guess the advantage would be the free (I sure hope so) shipping to these locations (I hope) + easy & free returns. This is an interesting concept for sure, but after reading the article, I felt that this type of store would be an urban store to complement the existing suburb locations. Time will tell.

[MonctonRad]

It wasn't the president of IKEA Canada who mentioned downtown urban format stores, that was Craig Patterson (the CEO of Retail Insider) who suggested that.

I think these smaller format IKEA stores are meant for mid tier cities not currently served by this retailer. I'm hopeful that Moncton might be one of these cities, but it is far too soon to tell. In the east, I would suspect Halifax, probably St. John's and maybe Moncton as likely candidates.

[josh_cat_eyes]

I'd love to see Halifax get a full store AND Moncton to get one of the pick up stores. If not them, how likely is it the The Brick may open a store there?

[MonctonRad]

So I see that one of the Riverview town councillors has caught wind of the IKEA expansion plans and is busily petitioning the CEO of IKEA Canada to locate one of the new stores in Riverview.

Well, good luck with that.....

If one of the new IKEA's ends up in metro Moncton, it'll be on the north side of the Petitcodiac River (where 85% of the population is), and it will likely be in a location convenient to highway access - like Mapleton Crossing.

Still, I applaud the councillors efforts. There's certainly no harm in trying......

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Still, I applaud the councillors efforts. There's certainly no harm in trying......

Moncton city council should be doing the same.

[MonctonRad]

Here's the link to the Global News item regarding the Riverview town councillor's Quixotic attempt to lure IKEA to his fair town:

http://globalnews.ca/news/1734812/ri...eater-moncton/

I am moderately optimistic that greater Moncton might be a candidate for one of these stores, but I remain firm in my belief that it would never be built in Riverview. I would think the most obvious place to build it would be Mapleton Crossing.

Looking at the video news report on the supplied link, it would appear that most of the people supporting the councillor's petition are under the misapprehension that he's talking about a full fledged IKEA store, not an e-commerce pick-up store with a small showroom. This should be clarified. In essence, what IKEA is talking about is a glorified Consumer's Distributing type outlet.

This would still be great for the city, but expectations in this regard should be somewhat tempered.........

[MonctonRad]

There are two interesting lines in the original Business Vancouver article:

The point of having specialized and small pickup stores is to have more distribution points and easier access for customers.

“Shipping out of that store means we can be faster and we’re often able to reduce shipping costs because we can get fulfilment closer to the customer address.”

If one of the reasons to establish these new format stores is to provide more points of shipping in order to allow for faster fulfillment of orders, then this would certainly play to Moncton's strategic advantage at the centre of the Maritimes, and to our traditional role as a transportation, distribution and logistics hub. The more that I think of it, the more confident I am that Moncton will be a leading candidate for one of these stores.....

[bigrivernb]

I walked by Mexx Champlain mall today, It appears they have started the process of closing. 50% off signage everywhere....and inventory levels appear to be very low in the store. Perhaps it will be gone by months end? I'm curious to see what stores will go and come after Christmas....January/February always seems to be busiest times for closures and new start ups.

[stephan.richard]

Originally Posted by bigrivernb

I walked by Mexx Champlain mall today, It appears they have started the process of closing. 50% off signage everywhere....and inventory levels appear to be very low in the store. Perhaps it will be gone by months end? I'm curious to see what stores will go and come after Christmas....January/February always seems to be busiest times for closures and new start ups.

I am hopping that the mall will be able to get a high quality store in there nut I think iti night be too small for a Hollister or Abercrombie type store.

Also I like the idea that Moncton could potentially be host to a smaller IKEA location and i think the prime spot could be close to Cabelas and Princess Auto.

But I drove by Bass Pro shop and they look like they have the bulk of the wrecking work dome at the hotel but it feels weird to see it without the hotel part.

[MonctonRad]

Moved from the Dieppe thread:

Originally Posted by Buck17

I can confirm that when the new sobeys is built either on Harrisville or Dieppe Blvd sobeys champlain mall will be closing!

I presume you have a reliable source?

The future of the Champlain Place Sobeys has been discussed before:
- Having a grocery store in a "fashion" mall is a bit incongruous.
- It's right across the street from the Regis Street location.
- The store has seen little or no maintenance over the last decade while all the other Sobeys in town are either new or have been drastically refurbished.

I have no trouble believing this rumour could possibly be true. Cadillac Fairview could certainly use the Sobeys space to attract a larger fashion type retailer (or two) to the mall. In particular, I'm sure they would love to have another destination store like Forever 21 or possibly Banana Republic. This would be my bet if this rumour is indeed true........

One reason why Champlain Place might want to do this is because that part of the mall is a little "dead", not having anchors found elsewhere in the mall like H&M or Victoria's Secret. By having high quality fashion retailers up there too, this would improve the leasability of the other storefronts in that section of the mall.

New Years Prediction:

If Forever 21 and Banana Republic occupied the Sobeys space, and if Sears becomes the Hudson's Bay Company after it's demise, and with Bass Pro Shops on the way, Champlain Place stands to become a truly formidable retail presence for Atlantic Canada.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Excellant news regarding Sobeys in Champlain closing once a Harrisville/Dieppe location has been built. I wonder who will get that coveted space?

Another question about Champlain, does anyone know if Sears owns their portion of the building?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Another question about Champlain, does anyone know if Sears owns their portion of the building?

I'm pretty sure that Sears actually owns their own space at the mall. If Sears is having a fire sale to stave off bankruptcy, I could see them selling their store to Hudson's Bay in order to gain some liquidity.

[OUIR@random]

All other tenants at Champlain are in leased spaces, the Sears portion of the mall is owned by Sears Canada. The actual land parcel on which Sears sits on is not owned by Cadillac Fairview.

Forever 21 or Zara would be great additions, however Banana Republic would not be as much. With an outlet store in close proximity, I don't see people paying full price when there's a discount outlet store nearby. In Halifax the outlet location at Dartmouth Crossing is super busy, but the full price store at the HSC is hardly...

[L'homard]

Sears most definitely owns that space outright.
When their new CEO came to town last spring (the guy who quit last month) he openly said he planned to sell off or otherwise dispose of some pretty prominent real estate, but "absolutely not" the Dieppe store, which, he told staff, was performing very well and was a key asset just the way it was.
(Take that for what it's worth, of course, which isn't a whole lot, but anyways....)

[Buck17]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Moved from the Dieppe thread:



I presume you have a reliable source?

The future of the Champlain Place Sobeys has been discussed before:
- Having a grocery store in a "fashion" mall is a bit incongruous.
- It's right across the street from the Regis Street location.
- The store has seen little or no maintenance over the last decade while all the other Sobeys in town are either new or have been drastically refurbished.

I have no trouble believing this rumour could possibly be true. Cadillac Fairview could certainly use the Sobeys space to attract a larger fashion type retailer (or two) to the mall. In particular, I'm sure they would love to have another destination store like Forever 21 or possibly Banana Republic. This would be my bet if this rumour is indeed true........

One reason why Champlain Place might want to do this is because that part of the mall is a little "dead", not having anchors found elsewhere in the mall like H&M or Victoria's Secret. By having high quality fashion retailers up there too, this would improve the leasability of the other storefronts in that section of the mall.

New Years Prediction:

If Forever 21 and Banana Republic occupied the Sobeys space, and if Sears becomes the Hudson's Bay Company after it's demise, and with Bass Pro Shops on the way, Champlain Place stands to become a truly formidable retail presence for Atlantic Canada.

Very reliable source,the Moncton market is saturated with grocery stores and Sobeys will not open a new one without closing one.The little store in Dieppe is a goldmine and will not be closed!!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Buck17

Sobeys will not open a new one without closing one.

Which probably explains why their land up on Mountain Road next to the Magnetic Hill Home Hardware is now for sale.

There are six Sobeys in town. That's pretty good market penetration compared to the competition.....

[Buck17]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Which probably explains why their land up on Mountain Road next to the Magnetic Hill Home Hardware is now for sale.

There are six Sobeys in town. That's pretty good market penetration compared to the competition.....

Expect a push back from the competition when Superstore opens up there new format stores on Elmwood Drive and possibly where the cash and carry is on St George..