As more chains close stores I expect we will see the current boom in new brow bars, nail salons and trendy barber shops to continue for a while ā¦ until itās realised there are too many and not all of them can make a profit so some will start closing down.
Western Sydney Uni used to run its own book shop, on-campus.
Then they put it out to tenderā¦and the Co-Op was the successful applicant. I wonder how the uni is dealing with it now.
Coles has replaced Woolworths as official supermarket of the AFL, after signing a new five-year deal with the league.
Kmart Northcote Plaza in Melbourne will shut its doors for good on November 22 when the storeās lease ends.
The announcement has come as a shocking blow to locals, who have loved having a Kmart on their doorstep since they first opening their doors in 1981.
So they shouldā¦ thatās disgracefulā¦
I hope they get fined for that kind of mark up.
down down, wages are down
Everyone is being underpaid everywhere it seems.
Ishka is the latest casualty in this tough retail environment https://7news.com.au/business/retail/ishka-closing-down-homewares-chain-the-latest-in-australias-retail-collapse-c-705811
I thought Ishka went bust ages ago
Thatās probably because of the constant fake closing down sales and the continuous 50% and 70% off sales. It really went down hill in the past few years with a less interesting range. They must have bought too many containers of cheap salt lamps as every store has a wall full of them at the moment.
I donāt know this brand, but I did think the posters advertising āadministrators appointedā going up during the news report was tacky. This explains it.
Rebel and Macpac owner adds $8 million to its wage theft scandal
Ah, yep, thatād be it:
They were doing it again after Boxing Day but the references were made slightly more vague. They only recently opened here in WA and I found it bizarre that they were constantly advertising rolling 50-70% off sales. Itās just so disingenuous as the RRP of the stuff was laughable.
After spending a week exploring the Toronto area, Iāve been in a few shopping centres as part of my travels and I thought Iād just dump a few of my thoughts on the page.
First off, I was fairly surprised at how similar the shopping centres are in Canada to how they are back home. The only thing that is significantly different is the car parking. It seems that they havenāt discovered how to build space-efficient multi-storey lots yet, meaning that the centres are surrounded by tarmac. Not pleasant as a pedestrian to walk through.
Iāve been to a few shopping centres which feature Walmart as an anchor tenant - Square One in Mississauga and Scarborough Town Centre. Both feature two levels, and have a shopping centre entrance as well as an entrance directly to the car park. Direct car park access is something which is a rarity these days in Australia - most centres have forced retailers to close their direct car park access to funnel people into the shopping centre.
One thing I noticed in shopping centres was that food courts have a basically identical ambience to what weāve got here, apart from a few brands that we donāt have here (Taco Bell, A&W, Dairy Queen, etc.). I was actually quite taken aback at how similar it was - if you just dropped me there after drugging me or something, Iād swear I was back home. Most specialty retailers have a very similar vibe, too.
Yorkdale Shopping Centre absolutely struck me of Chadstone Shopping Centre in Melbourne, especially the area near the Uniqlo with the huge ceilings. I definitely felt the same feeling that I didnāt belong there that I did in Chadstone, especially among those wanky luxury outlets with doormen (eye roll).
Overall, shopping centres seem to be in very good health up here. Definitely a contrast to the American malls south of the border, which are mostly dying. I think a lot of it has to do with how most shopping centres in Canada have supermarkets integrated within them, like how they are back in Australia as well, which means that people have a reason for returning to the shopping centre each week. I believe in the US almost all malls donāt have supermarkets or grocery stores within them (and the Walmarts and Targets usually have their own fast food outlets within the stores!) so thereās no foot traffic led into malls. Good public transport here is probably another thing which has kept shopping centres really successful. Most are integrated into town centres, and have quite good bus/train terminal connections. Scarborough Town Centre is a good example of one, with a light rail/subway connection right out front.
One thing Iāve noticed is that groceries are bloody expensive here!
Thereās a whole bunch of supermarket brands available (certainly a somewhat refreshing change from the Woolworths/Coles duopoly), but my god the prices are expensive. Iāve been to three supermarkets so far - FreshCo, NoFrills (both are meant to be budget supermarkets) and Metro (slightly more upmarket). I also did a bit of looking around Walmartās grocery section as well.
Generic products donāt seem to be as deeply discounted as they are in Australia, and thatās even if you can find a generic of what you want.
As an example, I tried looking for generic paracetamol, and the cheapest packets of 24 500mg tablets were around $2.49CAD - and thatās not including tax. That seemed to be the only non-Tylenol branded product on the shelf, too.
Remember that you can get 20 Paracetamol for 70 cents at Woolworths, Coles or Aldi.
The discount supermarkets only seem to have humongous sized packets of various types of food on the shelves.
Specials are also not as good in Canada in most supermarkets as they are in Australia.
Shoppers Drug Mart is clearly the substitute for Chemist Warehouse here. The main difference being that Shoppers Drug Mart is presented more like a department storeās cosmetics section than Chemist Warehouseās crowded deep discount look.
I had a look around Canadian Tire - youād think from its name itād be something like a Super Cheap Auto or Repco, but itās certainly a lot more than that. Itās kind of like a love child between Kmart of the late 1990s/early 2000s (with Tyre and Auto Service), Bunnings and Super Cheap Auto. A pretty good combination between automotive, lifestyle/homewares/outdoorsy products and hardware/tools.
Iām quite pleased by the late opening hours here. I was able to lodge parcels at Canada Post at 8:45pm, and most retailers are open until 9pm every night.
Two Aussie retailers Iāve seen kicking around up here were Flight Centre and Michael Hill, but thatās about it. In Scarborough Town Centre it was pretty funny to see the two shops surrounding the Walmart entrance. Kind of made me feel like home, but not quite.
Thereās currently a campaign on electronic billboards asking people to donate to WIRESā Australian bushfire appeal. Kind of puts into perspective just how global of an event that it was. Also heard a few promos on Rock FM for the appeal as well.
This very much explains why thereās so much hype surrounding Aldiās expansion in North America, and also why so many people have Costco memberships. It also makes you realise that the aussie hivemind on places like reddit that bitterly complain about cost of groceries in Australia clearly have never gone into a grocery store in a foreign country.
I would suspect a big part of what keeps shopping centres so strong in Canada (alongside having grocery stores in them as we do in Australia) is the climate - standalone big box stores are very undesirable in the middle of winter in -30C conditions.
The one thing that is really cool about a couple of those mall Walmart locations (I believe the locations that were former Zellers stores - Dufferin Mall comes to mind) is that they have special escalators for your shopping trolley!