Canada's Retail Shift: Why HBC, Sears, and Target are reinventing themselves
From low-end to luxe, retailers are rethinking what it takes to make it in the Canadian market. As part of The Current's Project Money, we're exploring the challenges facing Canada's retail landscape.
For those with deep pockets and expensive taste, there's nothing like the welcome of a luxury department store...
Maybe shopping isn't quite as entertaining in real life as it is made out to be on the television show Mr. Selfridge. But industry watchers say big changes are shaking up the Canadian retail scene, and they're not about customer excitement.
Target missed the bullseye, Sears Canada is being dismantled, and the Hudson's Bay Company is taking a chance on luxury, just in time to compete against U.S. retailers marching north.
To get up to speed on Canada's retail landscape, we were joined by two guests:
- Marina Strauss is the retailing reporter for the Globe and Mail's Report on Business.
- Jim Danahy is CEO of retail consulting firm CustomerLAB. He is also the Program Director at the Centre of Excellence in Retail Leadership at York University.
And Eaton's stores were once landmarks in many cities. Canadians shared a common bond in the purchase of its clothes, furniture and appliances. But Eaton's folded in 1999 after operating for 130 years.
For many, the closing of Eaton's was a personal loss. Bruce Kopytek says that kind of reaction to the closure of a department store is not uncommon
- Bruce Kopytek is the curator of the online Department Store Museum.
Do you have fond memories of shopping in a department store? Or thoughts on Canada's changing retail scene?
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This segment was produced by The Current's Dawna Dingwall and Shannon Higgins.