With the departure of Sears Canada, any business resembling a department store with a substantial percentage of apparel, softlines and home décor could hope to enjoy an upside from the retailer’s recent demise. But Peter Simons, CEO of the 178-year old family run Simons, at best sounds cautiously optimistic about the retail industry’s future. While the Quebec-based retailer is on an expansion strategy outside of its home province, with 15 large stores and a fast-growing growing online business, worries abound about the future performance of bricks and mortar stores as online retailers siphon business away from mall-based retailers...
Toy company executive Isaac Larian is hoping to keep Toys "R" Us's Canadian operations from going out of business, but a $1 billion crowdfunding campaign he launched to rescue the company doesn't include the country's stores. The executive behind California-based MGA Entertainment Inc., which makes Little Tikes, Bratz and L.O.L. Surprise! toys, announced on Thursday that he and some affiliated investors were seeking $800 million from toy lovers in hopes of acquiring "all or some" of Toy "R" Us's assets, thus "saving the retail chain and preserving the Toys "R" Us experience for future generations." The efforts focus on Toys "R" Us's U.S. stores and are separate from Larian's attempts to buy the brand's 82 Canadian stores, which 20 interested parties are vying for, said Toys "R" Us bankruptcy documents filed in the U.S. "Toys "R" Us Canada is a good business," Larian said in a statement previously. "They run it efficiently, and have good leadership. At the right price, it makes economical sense."
Starbucks Corp. is vowing to close the gender wage gap at its Canadian stores. The coffee giant's vice president of partner resources in Canada says it will conduct a thorough national review to ensure it offers equal pay for equal work in every province. The company's promise comes after it says it reached 100 per cent pay equity in the U.S. and wants to close the gap in every market it operates in.
Company says it has experienced ‘unprecedented volume fuelled by the rise of e-commerce and the growth of Canadian businesses’