
âIf you are shopping, can you buy me carrots?â
âIâm not at Food Basics, Iâm at the CD and record shop.â
ââŠWait, what? What year is this already?â
âAh ah. They are closing down, last day. Just wanted to check out what was left. Wanna come? Iâll pick you up.â
And so Feng came back home and we drove to CD Warehouse on Merivale Road, like two teens in the 1990s. Even though I walked by the small shop a hundred times, I had never stopped byâI havenât bought CDs in years and Iâm not a collector. Every now and then, I used to marvel at the fact the shop was still standing, stuck between a Shawarma place and Value Village.
Well, not anymore, I guess.
Inside the shop, the inventory was almost gone. No more big names, just a few local bands, classical music and some country. I bought a âWar is Overâ t-shirt for a quarter (90% off!) and we left.
We are regular at liquidation sales now, not because we are dedicated bargain hunters but because stores keep on closing around here.
Just in the last month, MEXX, Smart Set and Futureshop have folded abruptly. I guess the pair of red cargo pants I bought at MEXX in 2005 is now a collectorâs item.
And of course, there is the whole Target saga and the messy bankruptcy that followed. The American retailer came to Canada with much fanfare in 2013, taking over Zellers locations after the Canadian discount department retailer closed in 2012. Initially, many Canadians seemed excited by the prospect of shopping at Targetâapparently, it had a good reputation in the U.S. But the retailer failed to deliver, and all too soon complaints poured in about higher prices and lower quality merchandise available.
We had a Target store in our neighbourhood where Zellers used to be, and I was among the curious consumers who checked it out when it finally opened after months of renovation work. The store was brand new: shiny floors, a fleet of smooth-running shopping carts and a cheery bright-red colour scheme. It even had a small Starbucks inside and this impressed meâdefinitely a step above Walmartâs partnership with McDonaldâs! But the store lost its appeal really quickly. Prices were consistently higher than in other stores for the same products, many shelves were empty, product selection was poor and I couldnât quite figure out what the perks of shopping at Target wereâsame products, same brands, higher prices.
Yet, I felt bad when Target announced that it was pulling out of Canada, closing 133Â stores and affecting 17,600Â employees. The stores had just been renovated, and a few hadnât even opened yet, like the one in Bayshore Mall. It felt like such a failure.
We visited the nearest store several times last winter during the liquidation sale, almost remorsefulâsorry, eh, it didnât work out but we can stay friends, right? âHoly shit,â Feng noticed. âEven with 50% off, this store is still more expensive than anywhere else.â Right. Okay, no regrets, then.
Yet, whenever I walk by the now-defunct Target, I feel bad. Zellers and Target operated huge storesâwe are not talking about a small mom-and-pop hole-in-the-wall business but thousands of square feet. It feels like a waste of a nice retail space.
And Iâm not sure which âwhite knightâ will be able to take over and convert the space, filling the void.
So, it is all buildings in the dark in Ottawa?
No, we still have places to go hide when the weather is bad. At the opposite end of the retail spectrum, the cityâs main shopping mallsâSaint Laurent, Rideau and Bayshore, among othersârecently underwent renovation and welcomed new brands and companies. The redevelopment was rather drastic, especially at Rideau, the most central mall: new flooring, ceilings and lighting, a fancy food court and several high-end retailers such as Cartier, Tiffany & Co., Kate Spade, Coach, etc.
I was rather surprised to see Rideau turning into a fancy mall. Sure, it has a great location, close to the Parliament and many famous hotels and landmarks, but this is also the mall commuters speed through at the end of the workday and teens hang out after school. I canât imagine any of them thinking âoh, letâs hit Booster Juice and check out these Cartier watches!â
The entire area around Lansdowne Park is also very fancy now. The newly redeveloped entertainment facility includes a number of outlets around, including a Whole Foods Market (I checked it out, I can see why it was dubbed âwhole paycheckâ), a Lindt Chocolate Boutique and The Sporting Life, high-end sporting goods and fashion store.
I know, Ottawaâs economy is fairly stable since the employment market largely consists of public sector employees. Yet, I canât see the market for high-end products. Folks here are down to earth and tend to spend money on their suburban mausoleum… sorry, I mean, house, their cottage, family entertainment and carsânot on bling.
Maybe Iâm naĂŻve. Iâm sure well-paid analysts wrote business plans and checked out the market this time⊠right?
If not, Iâm in if Cartier or Tiffany ever holds a liquidation sale!
Tomorrow is Record Store Day, if you want to support your local shops, you know where to go! đ
For years I’ve been avoiding malls and brands. It’s not always easy but I did pretty well on my “only from independant stores” christmas gifts! It’s more fun that way. đ
Target is indeed a place I go when I’m in the US, it’s “less worse” than Walmart. I don’t buy much except my Burt’s Bee stuff. I couldn’t go in such giant lifeless malls weekly!
… I recently learned that Burt’s Bee is a subsidiary of Clorox: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clorox. They sold out years ago đ And Target made the “worst companies to work for” list: http://gawker.com/5807359/slowly-killing-my-soul-life-at-target-vol-2.
Yep, the world sucks.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
After Ben&Jerry’s, now Burt’s Bee? đ
Bonjour, moi c’est Juliette. J’aime dĂ©truire les rĂȘves, la bonne volontĂ© et les idĂ©aux. Ne me remerciez pas đ
Heeee….”suburban mausoleum” – hilarious and SO TRUE.
đ
I can’t even begin to understand how the Target story could have been such a failure. When you buy more than 100 locations in a new country, I guess you check how the market behave locally, and you plan the logistics accordingly.
I smell incompetence somewhere.
The CEO of Target has very controversial views on how to, ahem, CEO. Apparently Kmart is having issues as well in the US and guess who is the CEO…
I see. He screw Target of 2 billions, and get 61 millions to leave.
Yep. On n’a pas choisi la bonne carriĂšre…
I read about Target some time ago and I was wondering if e-retail has any part to play. In India it does, many business are running into losses.
Yes, apparently showrooming (i.e. using brick-and-mortar store to check out products then buying online) is hurting electronic shops. I’m not so sure, though. People do buy online but shipping fees are still high.
I am still mourning tbe departure of Target đ
However, i saw the difference between Target here (not enough inventory and choices) and those in the States (shelves always full except during holidays with discounts).
Although i felt bad for the employees, i could not help myself and stocked up on diapers, baby cereals, and a new handheld mixer.
I felt so sorry for you when I heard about Target pulling out!
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