Winnipeg Retail

[buzzg]

Pretty sure that big Japanese (?) dollar store is going in there. Can't remember if it was Miniso or another one.

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Pretty sure that big Japanese (?) dollar store is going in there. Can't remember if it was Miniso or another one.

Miniso is Chinese owned and had planned 500 Canadian stores before Canada/China relations significantly cooled. Miniso then publicly announced it was fully withdrawing from Canada before changing direction again and saying it would remain.

--

Also while I was away Squish announced they are closing all the stores except a single location in Toronto meaning their Polo Park location is closing. They also talk about a planned partnership that will be announced. Considering the company essentially spun off DavidsTea which is itself closely aligned with Le Chateau it seems those are likely partners as would be grocery stores.

[DancingDuck]

Originally Posted by buzzg

Pretty sure that big Japanese (?) dollar store is going in there. Can't remember if it was Miniso or another one.

Oomomo perhaps?

[buzzg]

Originally Posted by DancingDuck

Oomomo perhaps?

Yes I think that was the one actuallly.

[Gravity Wins]

That's good news. In my experience, Japanese dollar stores have great quality for what you are paying

[Glenn99]

When did Giant Tiger Stafford and Pembina close? Parking lot always seemed full.

[Wpg_Guy]

Originally Posted by Glenn99

When did Giant Tiger Stafford and Pembina close? Parking lot always seemed full.

The store was a casualty of the sale of the master franchise agreement for the western Canadian stores from The North West Company back to Giant Tiger.

[OTA in Winnipeg]

Originally Posted by Wpg_Guy

The store was a casualty of the sale of the master franchise agreement for the western Canadian stores from The North West Company back to Giant Tiger.

Well that was short lived. It's not that long ago that it was Price Choppers.

[horrorbro123]

I Was Out at Outlet Collection Winnipeg Something Going On Next To Kate Spade

[buzzg]

Wonder if Sobeys might snap the GT back up for a Freshco haha.


Side note, was at Polo Park on Friday and Saturday... it was packed.

[pegcity]

Originally Posted by horrorbro123

I Was Out at Outlet Collection Winnipeg Something Going On Next To Kate Spade

Tory Burch

[BAKGUY]

Originally Posted by Glenn99

When did Giant Tiger Stafford and Pembina close? Parking lot always seemed full.

Makes no sense to the average shopper. It was busy.That location needs to offer groceries. Freshco would be welcome. Even Sa-v-on.

[esquire]

^ I went to that Giant Tiger once last winter on my way home from work to pick up milk and it was nearly empty. I don't get GT's business model of setting up so many of its stores in the shadow of Walmart, which beats it in nearly every way possible. The only GTs I see doing quite well are the ones that are nowhere near Walmarts, i.e. inner city and small town locations.

[armorand93]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I went to that Giant Tiger once last winter on my way home from work to pick up milk and it was nearly empty. I don't get GT's business model of setting up so many of its stores in the shadow of Walmart, which beats it in nearly every way possible. The only GTs I see doing quite well are the ones that are nowhere near Walmarts, i.e. inner city and small town locations.

Or in the case of Calgary's singular GT location - marketing it off to the poor.

[rrskylar]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ I went to that Giant Tiger once last winter on my way home from work to pick up milk and it was nearly empty. I don't get GT's business model of setting up so many of its stores in the shadow of Walmart, which beats it in nearly every way possible. The only GTs I see doing quite well are the ones that are nowhere near Walmarts, i.e. inner city and small town locations.

Giant Tiger’s prices aren’t great in their locations in older parts of the city. GT and any other Canadian grocery retailer would be smart to follow Aldi or Lidl’s model for small grocery stores which have exploded in the US with over 1600 stores there now.

[CoryB]

T&T is again looking to expand, and aggressively this time. They would want 40,000 sq ft (or more) for a location. The former Sobeys on Burrows and Keewatin seems like a potentially prime location. Wonder if this might finally be the time for them to come here.

Also not sure it was posted here, Red River Co-Op has a sign up saying they are opening a food store at the Outlet Collection (northwest of the light by the Dairy Queen.

[EndoftheBeginning]

Mountain Equipment Co-Op is selling to a private equity firm out of the US. They lost $11.5 million last year on sales of about $460 million. Indications are that about 17 of the 22 stores in Canada will remain open (no indication where Winnipeg stands yet). You won't likely get your $5 back, as per the CBC article:

News of its acquisition Monday prompted many members of the co-operative to wonder whether they would get their co-operative shares — about $5 — back.

During the transition from a co-operative to a private company, members would have to claim themselves as creditors to stake a claim on their $5 shares.

But Claus says its "highly unlikely" that members would get their share value back.

"Like in any business, if it's a co-operative or another, equity ranks at the bottom of the list," he said. "I'm sure there'll be some people that won't be happy they lost their $5, but I think the co-op's given them over the years a lot more value than $5."

[esquire]

^ No inside knowledge here, but I can't imagine that the future is bright for the downtown MEC location. It opened at kind of the tail end of the downtown retail era, when there was still a bit of a push going on to attract new retailers and resulted in Staples, A&B Sound, MEC, Hangers, etc. setting up shop. Downtown retail has only declined since then and now MEC is kind of a fish out of water, practically by itself as a non-dollar store retailer on Portage.

Even if MEC remains in business in Winnipeg, it would probably make more sense for them to move somewhere else, like Polo Park or Seasons.

[drew]

MEC is still my go to outdoor place. In terms of downtown shopping - that is the only place on Portage Avenue I still go into physically to shop. I am sure I am not alone, it's generally pretty busy in there.

I do work downtown and live close by, so it's a more convenient place to go for me compared to most.

[CoryB]

^^ If 17 of the 22 MEC stores are expected to remain open, without doing a deep analysis it feels like the current Winnipeg location is safe, for now. Some cities have multiple MEC locations and those are most likely the ones that will close. If you are niche retailer with a strong online presence and losing money on operations consolidating sales into fewer stores plus online is an easy play to try and continue as a going concern.

In terms of relocating the Winnipeg store, the Polo area definitely makes sense as there is lots of available units with low demand. That said, store relocations cost a fair bit of money and is unlikely something that is taken on while under creditor protection.

The Winnipeg location seemed to always do a reasonable job pulling in the office worker crowd. The challenge is with some big questions on if that will ever return to pre-pandemic levels of a captive audience is a huge unknown.