Retail Insider is streamlining its Canadian retail news from around the web to include a handful of top news stories that can be viewed quickly during the day. Here are the top stories from the past 48 hours.
Actual Body Toronto has officially opened its first regenerative wellness clinic near Yonge and Sheppard, introducing a concept that blends science-based treatments with a hospitality-influenced guest experience. The clinic, which opened September 30, brings acoustic wave therapy, autologous exosome treatments, and a focused men’s sexual health program to a neighbourhood where demand for innovative health services is growing rapidly.
Founded by entrepreneur Ricky Fung, best known for creating the well-established Chronic Ink tattoo brand, Actual Body Toronto is an expansion into the wellness category. The clinic aims to deliver regenerative treatments that help support sexual function, pain reduction, hair restoration, and long-term skin health. With design, technology, and a wellness philosophy shaping the concept, the new clinic enters a competitive Toronto market with a distinct offering.
“We are building something grounded in science and guided by the belief that the body already knows how to repair itself,” says Fung. “Actual Body is designed to support that process rather than replace it.”
Ricky Fung
A Founder Known for Spotting Emerging Cultural Shifts
Fung has spent almost two decades building businesses that bridge culture, personal expression, and wellness. Chronic Ink’s rise from a single location to a multi-city creative brand reflected a period when tattoos were shifting into mainstream acceptance. The company, known for specializing in Neo-Traditional Asian tattooing, expanded across Toronto, Vancouver, Las Vegas, New York, and Taiwan.
His entry into regenerative wellness began with a personal experience. After living with a shoulder injury for more than 20 years, Fung visited a small clinic in Scarborough on the recommendation of a friend. A single acoustic wave therapy session resolved his chronic pain, prompting him to research the science behind it. The experience became the catalyst for what eventually evolved into Actual Body Toronto.
“It was unexpected,” says Fung. “I had tried every treatment available. Suddenly the pain was gone. That pushed me to dig deeper into how the technology worked.”
Fung spent months studying the clinical literature, meeting practitioners, testing equipment, and exploring supplier networks. He later secured exclusive Canadian rights to a proprietary acoustic wave therapy device used in men’s health and orthopedic applications, laying the groundwork for the clinic’s launch.
Regenerative Therapies Driving Growth in the Canadian Wellness Category
Actual Body Toronto is centered on two core technologies that are increasingly influencing the global wellness market: Acoustic Wave Therapy and autologous exosome therapy.
Acoustic Wave Therapy, or AWT, uses controlled sound waves to stimulate blood flow, promote microvascular development, and support tissue regeneration. It is widely used internationally for sexual health, injury recovery, circulation improvement, and certain aesthetic goals.
At Actual Body Toronto, AWT is offered across four categories: sexual health rejuvenation, cellulite reduction, pain relief, and non-surgical fat loss acceleration.
Men’s sexual health has become one of the clinic’s strongest-performing service lines, driven by both clinical outcomes and increased consumer openness around sexual wellbeing. Fung notes that many clients are seeking alternatives to pharmaceuticals or invasive procedures, and AWT offers a non-surgical option with measurable results.
This category includes one of the most significant findings from the clinic’s early testing: measurable increases in penile size among participants undergoing AWT for erectile function.
Photo: Actual Body Toronto
Clinical Findings on Erectile Function and Size Enhancement
Before launching the business, Fung recruited 20 volunteers from his personal network to test the AWT device under informal but evidence-informed conditions. Nineteen participants reported measurable improvements in erectile strength, firmness, and function. Many also documented increases in penile size ranging from 0.4 inches to approximately one inch after completing a series of sessions.
The results appear to align with broader research on angiogenesis, the process by which AWT stimulates new blood vessel formation. Fung says this regenerative response can lead not only to improved erectile performance but also, in certain cases, increased size.
“The mechanism is biological,” says Fung. “When microvascular density increases and circulation improves, tissue is better supported. What we have seen in our early testing is that this can lead to a measurable change in size for some clients. It is a regenerative outcome rather than an artificial enlargement.”
Sessions take only a few minutes, require no anesthesia or recovery period, and rely entirely on sound-based stimulation rather than injections or surgical intervention. Fung says the accessibility of the treatment has lowered barriers for men who might not otherwise seek help for sexual health concerns.
“We see clients across a wide age range,” he says. “For many of them, improvements in function or confidence are life-changing.”
The clinic expects this service category to remain a key pillar of its business as demand continues to grow in the GTA and across Canada.
Photo: Actual Body Toronto
Autologous Exosome Therapy and the Expansion of Regenerative Aesthetics
The second major offering at Actual Body Toronto is autologous exosome therapy. Exosomes are naturally occurring messenger cells responsible for delivering regenerative signals within the body. At Actual Body, they are derived from a client’s own platelet-rich plasma, processed, stabilized, and then used in treatments related to hair restoration, skin rejuvenation, and anti-aging.
These treatments complement the clinic’s regenerative focus by leveraging the body’s own cellular communication system. According to Fung, clients are looking for skincare and anti-aging solutions that feel more natural and deliver gradual, compounding improvements.
“This is a category with significant potential,” says Fung. “It gives clients a way to work with their biology, not against it.”
Exosome stabilization is a key differentiator. Once extracted from the body, exosomes typically lose efficacy quickly. Actual Body Toronto uses a laboratory process that encapsulates and preserves them, allowing for both microneedling treatments and topical applications that penetrate the skin barrier.
The clinic expects the exosome program to become an anchor for its broader expansion strategy.
Hullmark Centre at 4773 Yonge St in Toronto. Photo: Metropolitan Commercial Realty
A Design Strategy That Supports the Clinic’s Positioning
Actual Body Toronto also distinguishes itself through the design of its physical space. The 800-square-foot clinic was developed with VLC Studio and creative director Vanessa Cesario to create a calming, cocoon-like environment. Walls feature a warm limewash finish in Cardamom by Bauwerk, while a curved glass block wall offers visibility into the clinic’s lab.
Brushed steel millwork and a sculptural Concord Lighting installation composed of more than 100 hand-assembled fins contribute to a modern, wellness-forward aesthetic. A signature scent supplied by Saje, combined with a pre-treatment grounding session through a headset-based relaxation program, reinforces the clinic’s emphasis on sensory experience.
“We designed the clinic to be restorative from the moment a client walks in,” says Fung. “The treatments are technical, but the environment is built for comfort.”
Actual Body Toronto. Photo: Pat Ryder
Client Outcomes Illustrate Demand for Regenerative Care
Although the clinic is new, Fung says early client outcomes have reinforced the need for accessible regenerative treatments in Toronto. Clients with longstanding injuries, such as chronic back or shoulder pain, have reported improvements after only a few sessions. Others seeking greater sexual confidence or improved performance have sent feedback describing meaningful changes in daily life.
One client with severe pain following a motorcycle accident reported experiencing her first pain-free day in more than 18 years. Another, in his sixties, regained erectile function without the need for injections after completing a series of AWT sessions. A younger client shared that improvements in performance helped resolve long-standing confidence issues in intimate settings.
“These stories matter because they highlight the human impact,” says Fung. “People want treatments that work and that fit their lives.”
Photo: Actual Body Toronto
A Hybrid Business Model Positioned for Scale
While Actual Body Toronto offers a full range of in-clinic services today, Fung says the company will refine its approach as it prepares for expansion. The long-term model is hybrid, combining in-house services with a wholesale product distribution strategy.
The clinic will continue to offer sexual health treatments, including erectile dysfunction programs and performance-focused AWT sessions, as well as select pain-management services. These categories align with the clinic’s exclusive technology rights and deliver clear differentiation in the market.
The cosmetic and skincare components, particularly exosome-based products, will transition into a wholesale model aimed at medical spas, dermatology clinics, and cosmetic practices. Rather than competing with established providers, Actual Body Toronto intends to supply them.
“Thousands of clinics already have the clients,” says Fung. “We can complement what they do by providing the regenerative component.”
Fung notes that his previous experience running a wholesale body jewelry business gives the company an advantage in building a scalable distribution network.
Positioning in a Changing Toronto Wellness Landscape
Toronto has seen a significant rise in wellness concepts over the past decade, including IV therapy lounges, infrared studios, functional health clinics, and recovery centres. Consumers are increasingly seeking non-invasive treatments grounded in science, particularly those that focus on longevity and regenerative outcomes.
Actual Body Toronto is entering the market at a time when wellness is becoming a larger component of mixed-use retail environments. Neighbourhoods like Yonge and Sheppard, which combine high-density residential towers with transit accessibility and service-oriented retail, offer a strong environment for growth.
Fung says the location supports clients seeking privacy and convenience. “People want wellness services close to home,” he says. “This neighbourhood gives us access to a diverse and engaged client base.”
Actual Body Toronto is now open at 4773 Yonge Street, Unit 3D, in Toronto.
December 5 and 6, 2025 marked major milestones on the road to the FIFA World Cup 2026™. The final groups were drawn on December 5, and the next day FIFA revealed the schedule confirming where every match will be played and when the action will kick off. Toronto will host six World Cup games, including one knockout-round match, guaranteeing massive crowds, global attention, and a summer unlike anything local businesses have seen before.
As bars, restaurants, hotels, retailers, and event spaces begin planning viewing parties and special programming, one question cannot be ignored: Is your commercial lease ready for the World Cup?
With the tournament expected to draw thousands of visitors into the city, even the most routine business operations can turn into potential leasing issues. Thinking ahead now can prevent last-minute headaches when the World Cup kicks off in June 2026.
Start with your lease!
The excitement around hosting World Cup events can make it easy for businesses to forget that many of their planned initiatives like adding themed decorations, expanding patios, hosting ticketed events, installing extra television screens, opening earlier or staying open later may directly conflict with their lease provisions.
A quick refresher on the lease can make all the difference.
For example, signage provisions in your lease often control what can go on windows, patios, or storefronts. A tenant might assume that hanging flags or World Cup banners is harmless, but many leases limit temporary signage or require landlord approval and consent before anything can go up on the exterior of the premises. Check your lease to ensure that hanging any banners or flags, or adding new signage, will be permitted. If not, ask your landlord for consent! And if the signage even looks like FIFA branding, that will introduce a whole different compliance issue (discussed below).
The permitted use clause may also be more limiting than tenants expect. A bar that casually shows sports on television probably won’t have issues with standard match-day viewing, but a full-scale viewing party, a ticketed event, or an outdoor projection screen may go beyond the lease’s scope. The same goes for retail tenants who might want to host crowd-drawing promotions tied to the tournament. Check your permitted use clause to ensure that you are actually permitted to show the games. Lastly, if you intend on serving alcohol during the games, ensure that your lease permits you to do so.
Before you start setting up tables and chairs outside, ensure that your lease permits you to use the outdoor area as a patio. You may also need to or want to apply for the CaféTO program, which has its own set of guidelines. Landlords and tenants should consider noise restrictions and rules around operating hours which become relevant for match times, which don’t always align with ordinary business hours. Landlords, especially in mixed-use developments, often set specific opening and closing times, and those don’t automatically change just because Canada is playing.
Even cost-sharing provisions may come into play. Many leases allow landlords to pass through increased operating expenses. More crowds can mean higher utilities, security needs, and waste removal. Tenants planning big events should anticipate that those additional costs might show up in their operating expense reconciliations.
The takeaway? Reviewing the lease now gives businesses room to adjust their plans or seek approvals well before the tournament kicks off.
Photo: The Rabbit Hole
Toronto Will Be Watching – And So Will City Officials
Beyond the lease, tenants should expect heightened attention from the City of Toronto. The City has been clear that it will enforce bylaws related to noise, signage, patios, crowd management, business licensing, and vending. Businesses that push the envelope without permits may face fines or charges. If City staff suspect counterfeit merchandise or improper use of FIFA trademarks, they may also escalate the issue to the rights-holders.
Tenants planning viewing parties should confirm early whether they need special event permits, patio extensions, noise exemptions, or any zoning-related approvals not just from the landlord but from the City. The City’s Community Activation Toolkit (link below) is a helpful starting point, but it doesn’t replace the need to check your lease and talk to your landlord. Most leases include clauses requiring tenants to comply with all applicable laws, by-laws, and regulations. Tenants who are unaware of licensing requirements could unintentionally violate their lease by holding unauthorized or illegal events.
FIFA’s Rules: A Different Layer of Compliance
As if lease provisions and municipal bylaws weren’t enough, businesses hosting World Cup-related events also need to be mindful of FIFA’s strict intellectual property protections.
FIFA’s logos, emblems, mascots, and branded terms like FIFA World Cup™ and FWC26™ are protected worldwide. Businesses can’t use them in signage, menus, or storefront displays unless they have formal authorization. Adding phrases like “unofficial viewing party” won’t fix a violation.
On top of that, FIFA has its own licensing regime for public viewing events. The rules depend on the nature of the event:
Regular bars, restaurants, and hotels can show matches on their existing screens without a license, as long as they don’t charge admission, add event-specific sponsors, or host more than 1,000 people.
Larger or more elaborate events do require a license, including outdoor gatherings, ticketed events, or anything involving sponsors or large screens.
Applications should be submitted at least 60 days in advance through FIFA’s online Public Viewing Platform. Landlords should also keep an eye on this, as improper use of FIFA branding by a tenant can create reputational or even legal exposure for the property.
FIFA logos
Making the Most of the Moment, Without Breaching the Lease
For tenants, the best approach is to treat the World Cup like a temporary but major operational shift. That means:
Reviewing the lease now, not a week before kickoff.
Talking to the landlord early about any approvals or flexibility needed.
Confirming any municipal permits well in advance.
Making sure no marketing materials imply FIFA affiliation.
Getting clarity on potential additional rent or operating expense impacts.
For landlords, World Cup planning can be an opportunity to improve tenant communication and building coordination. Establishing consistent rules around signage, noise, patio extensions, crowd control, and FIFA branding can help prevent disputes and keep the property running smoothly.
Final Thoughts
With Toronto hosting six World Cup matches, the summer of 2026 will be one of the busiest and most exciting periods the city has ever experienced. For commercial tenants, it represents a tremendous business opportunity. However, without proper planning, the same crowds and celebrations that draw customers could also create unintended lease disputes, regulatory issues, and licensing problems.
By reviewing their leases, understanding the City’s expectations, and respecting FIFA’s rules, businesses can take full advantage of the World Cup while keeping their operations smooth, compliant, and ready for kickoff.
Should you have any questions about your lease rights, or should you have any other commercial leasing questions, please reach out to Arman Poushin at apoushin@weirfoulds.com or by telephone at 416-947-5018.
Arman Poushin is an associate in the Commercial Leasing Practice Group at WeirFoulds. He practises commercial real estate law, advising landlords and tenants on retail, industrial, and office leasing matters, including lease drafting, negotiations, amendments, and due diligence. He previously worked at a large real estate developer and brings a practical, client-focused approach to his leasing practice, with a strong understanding of the Greater Toronto Area market.
Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Penticton, BC. Photo: JLL
Penticton’s Cherry Lane Shopping Centre has changed hands, with the Jim Pattison Group completing the acquisition of the long-standing retail property from Manulife. The transaction, confirmed in early December, marks a significant shift in ownership for the only enclosed shopping centre serving the South Okanagan and Similkameen regions, and comes at a pivotal moment for the asset following the closure of its former anchor tenant, Hudson’s Bay.
The developments arm of the Jim Pattison Group confirmed that the purchase closed on December 3, according to reporting by Penticton Western News. While the sale price was not disclosed, public assessment data places the value of the property at $68.7 million, suggesting the transaction occurred in the tens of millions of dollars. The shopping centre had been formally listed for sale in late July 2025, shortly after Hudson’s Bay ceased operations at the mall as part of the retailer’s broader bankruptcy-related shutdowns across Canada.
Located at 2111 Main Street, Cherry Lane Shopping Centre occupies a highly visible site with direct access from Penticton’s main commercial corridor and proximity to Highway 97. The property has been a central feature of the city’s retail landscape for five decades, having originally opened in 1975 as Penticton’s first enclosed regional mall.
A Longstanding Retail Anchor in the South Okanagan
Cherry Lane Shopping Centre was developed in the mid-1970s at a time when Penticton’s retail environment was largely defined by downtown high-street stores and smaller commercial nodes. Its enclosed format, extensive surface parking, and full-line department store anchor represented a change in how residents shopped locally. The centre officially opened in 1975 following a community naming contest that selected the name “Cherry Lane Shopping Centre,” a reflection of both the region’s agricultural heritage and the mall’s role as a new civic gathering place.
At opening, the mall featured Woodward’s as its primary anchor tenant, giving Penticton access to a major British Columbia-based department store for the first time. Local recollections of the period often describe the opening as a moment when the city “felt significantly different,” underscoring the cultural and economic impact of the development. Woodward’s offered a broad assortment spanning apparel, home goods, food, and general merchandise, positioning Cherry Lane as a true one-stop shopping destination for residents of Penticton and surrounding communities.
Following the collapse of the Woodward’s chain in the early 1990s, the anchor space transitioned through several retail eras, reflecting broader changes in the Canadian department store sector. Over time, Cherry Lane’s anchor lineup evolved to include Hudson’s Bay, London Drugs, and Save-On-Foods, alongside a mix of national chains, regional retailers, and local service providers.
Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Penticton, BC. Photo: JLL
Current Scale, Tenant Mix, and Foot Traffic
Today, Cherry Lane Shopping Centre comprises just under 280,000 square feet of retail space and is home to approximately 50 stores. The tenant mix emphasizes everyday and essential retail categories, a positioning that has helped the centre maintain relevance despite increased competition from power centres, big-box clusters, and regional malls in larger markets such as Kelowna.
Current tenants include Save-On-Foods, London Drugs, Best Buy Express, Coles Bookstore, Royal LePage, The Shoe Company, Booster Juice, several jewelry retailers, and a range of fashion and service-oriented businesses. This blend reflects a shift away from traditional fashion-led mall merchandising toward grocery, pharmacy, value, and convenience-driven retail, a trend seen across many mid-sized Canadian markets.
According to marketing materials published by JLL Capital Services, which has managed the property for several years, Cherry Lane attracts approximately 2.5 million shoppers annually. This figure reinforces the centre’s continued role as the primary enclosed retail hub for the region. The site spans approximately nine hectares and includes parking capacity for more than 1,100 vehicles on the main parcel, along with an additional 1.5-acre parking lot located across Warren Avenue West that forms part of the same legal property.
Entry sign to the Cherry Lane Shopping Centre in Penticton, BC. Photo: JLL
The Hudson’s Bay Closure and Sale Timing
The sale of Cherry Lane Shopping Centre is closely tied to the departure of Hudson’s Bay, which closed its Penticton store in June following the retailer’s bankruptcy proceedings. The closure left a large anchor box vacant, estimated at roughly 94,600 square feet, and materially altered the centre’s near-term leasing profile. The loss of the Bay also created both a challenge and an opportunity for the property, particularly in the context of repositioning or redevelopment.
Manulife, through Manulife Investment Management, had owned the property for several years prior to the sale, with day-to-day operations handled by JLL Capital Services. In 2025, the asset was formally marketed with guidance in the high-$60-million range, aligning with BC Assessment’s valuation of $68.7 million. Marketing materials highlighted the stability of the existing tenant base, the centre’s strong traffic levels, and the potential to re-tenant or redevelop the former department store space.
The timing of the sale, roughly five months after the property was listed, suggests strong investor interest in well-located community malls, particularly those with grocery anchors and redevelopment optionality. For the Jim Pattison Group, the acquisition aligns with a long-established strategy of owning and operating grocery-anchored and community-focused retail assets in Western Canada.
Jim Pattison Developments and Its Retail Strategy
Cherry Lane Shopping Centre will fall under the umbrella of Jim Pattison Developments, the real estate arm of the Jim Pattison Group. Headquartered in Vancouver, Jim Pattison Developments operates as an independent business unit within one of Canada’s largest privately held companies. The firm focuses on the ownership, development, and management of commercial and residential properties across Canada and, increasingly, the United States.
Jim Pattison Developments formally emerged as a distinct business in 2006, although the broader Jim Pattison Group has been active since 1961 across sectors including food retail, automotive, media, packaging, forestry, and entertainment. Leadership includes David Bell as President, supported by an in-house team covering development, asset management, leasing, design, construction, and finance. This vertically integrated structure allows the company to pursue long-term ownership strategies while maintaining flexibility in how assets are repositioned over time.
A core component of the firm’s portfolio has been grocery-anchored shopping centres, many of which are closely aligned with Pattison Food Group banners such as Save-On-Foods. By the mid-2010s, Jim Pattison Developments controlled more than 10 million square feet of income-producing assets, a figure that has grown through continued acquisitions and development activity. The acquisition of Cherry Lane fits squarely within this strategy, particularly given the presence of Save-On-Foods as a key anchor tenant.
One of Cherry Lane Shopping Centre’s distinguishing features is its immediate proximity to residential density, a factor that adds to its long-term strategic value. Multiple residential buildings are located directly behind the mall, including the 11-storey Cherry Lane Towers and the Athens Creek Towers. This existing population base supports daily foot traffic and reinforces the centre’s role as a community shopping node rather than a purely discretionary destination.
The presence of residential towers also raises the prospect of future densification or mixed-use redevelopment, particularly on underutilized portions of the site or within the former Hudson’s Bay footprint.
Simpsons WWII Roll of Honour dedication ceremony, November 2025. Photo: TD
An important piece of Canadian retail and wartime history has found a permanent new home in downtown Toronto. The Simpsons Roll of Honour, a historical memorial commemorating employees of the former Simpsons department store who died during the Second World War, has been installed at the TD Terrace museum on Front Street West.
The plaque, which lists the names of employees who “made the supreme sacrifice,” was unveiled in November at TD’s publicly accessible museum space. Its installation marks the preservation of a rare retail-based war memorial at a time when the physical legacy of Canada’s traditional department store sector is rapidly disappearing.
From Department Store Landmark to Cultural Artifact
For decades, the Roll of Honour was displayed inside Hudson’s Bay Company’s flagship store on Queen Street in Toronto. Hudson’s Bay acquired Simpsons in 1978, inheriting not only the retail business but also responsibility for the memorial, which remained on display through multiple store renovations and ownership changes.
The memorial’s future became uncertain in 2025, when Hudson’s Bay closed its department stores across Canada amid insolvency proceedings. As locations shuttered and assets were prepared for liquidation, historically significant artifacts housed within the stores, including war memorials, required urgent decisions about their long-term care.
Rather than being sold or placed into private collections, the Simpsons Roll of Honour was gifted to TD Bank Group, ensuring its preservation and continued public access.
Simpsons WWII Roll of Honour dedication ceremony, November 2025. Photo: TD
A Meaningful Return to a Historic Site
The Roll of Honour now resides in TD’s museum inside the street-level branch of the TD Terrace building. The location carries historical resonance. The site was once home to the R. W. Simpson Warehouse, established in 1905 by Robert Simpson as part of the mail-order business that later grew into the Simpsons department store empire.
“The museum is a publicly accessible site, so we can maintain the connection between the Roll of Honour and the community,” said Amy Korczynski, Curator and Manager, Corporate Heritage Collections at TD.
“It’s now the Bank’s to care for in perpetuity, alongside the TD war memorials that document the service of TD employees.”
The placement connects multiple layers of Canadian commercial history, linking a legacy retailer, a major Canadian bank, and the individuals whose names are inscribed on the memorial.
World War 2 memorial of lost Simpsons employees at Hudson’s Bay Queen Street in Toronto. The memorial wall is beside the escalators on the main floor of the store. There are calls to save the memorial. Photo taken April 24, 2025 by Craig Patterson
Ensuring Public Access and Long-Term Stewardship
Korczynski emphasized that the decision to install the memorial at TD Terrace ensures it remains visible and accessible to the public.
Installing the plaque at the museum allows anyone, whether they have a personal connection to the people listed, have served themselves, or have family members who served, to visit and reflect on its significance.
The museum setting also places the Roll of Honour within a broader historical narrative, surrounded by artifacts documenting more than a century of Canadian business, banking, and civic life.
Simpsons WWII Roll of Honour dedication ceremony, November 2025. Photo: TD
A Ceremony of Remembrance
The Roll of Honour was officially unveiled during a small ceremony attended by members of TD Salutes, the bank’s employee resource group made up of veterans, reservists, and allies across North America.
Korczynski said the ceremony carried a powerful reminder of the importance of remembrance.
“There was a really meaningful remark at the event about how after you die, you die a second death when no one says your name anymore,” she said.
“We’re giving visibility to the names of these people who put everything on the line and did not come home.”
The ceremony reinforced the memorial’s purpose, not only as a historical artifact but as a living reminder of individual sacrifice.
Simpsons WWII Roll of Honour, now in a new location in Toronto open to the public. Photo: TD
War Memorials in Canadian Retail Spaces
War memorials embedded within retail environments represent a lesser-known but important part of Canada’s cultural landscape. Department stores such as Simpsons and Hudson’s Bay historically served as major employers and community hubs, particularly during the first half of the twentieth century.
The memorials honoured young men who worked in retail before enlisting, many of them in their late teens. As the decades passed, these plaques became, in many cases, the final physical record of their lives and service.
By 2025, nearly 80 years after the end of the Second World War, few direct personal connections to those named on the memorials remained. The plaques themselves became critical carriers of memory.
Historical Simpsons branding revealed on the former Hudson’s Bay building at 176 Yonge Street, October 12, 2025. The building was occupied by Simpsons from the late 1800s to 1991. Photo: Craig Patterson
BHC Chicken at The Well in Toronto. Photo: BHC Chicken
BHC Chicken has quietly used its first Canadian restaurant as a proving ground for broader North American ambitions. After opening at The Well in downtown Toronto in October 2024, the Korean fried chicken brand has spent its first year observing customer behaviour, refining operations, and assessing what it takes to scale responsibly in a demanding urban market.
Located at 486 Front Street West within The Well’s Wellington Market, the roughly 2,560 square foot restaurant with seating for about 90 guests serves as BHC’s North American flagship. The store anchors the brand’s entry into Canada and reflects a deliberate strategy to test performance in a diverse, high-expectation city before accelerating expansion.
“BHC Chicken is the No.1 brand in the Korean fried chicken market, built around proprietary recipes and a strong focus on operational consistency,” said Hwayeon Nam, Senior Executive Director of Dining Brands Group’s Global Business Division. “In Korea, fried chicken is part of everyday dining culture, and BHC has grown by steadily refining both the food and how it’s made and served over many years.”
Toronto, she explained, was selected not simply as a launchpad, but as a learning environment. “Toronto felt like the right place to begin in Canada. It’s a city where people are open to different cuisines but also very clear about their expectations. From the start, we saw Toronto not just as an entry point, but as a place to understand how a single BHC store performs in a diverse, high-expectation market.”
BHC Chicken celebration party at The Well in Toronto. Photo: BHC Chicken
Measuring Early Demand in a Competitive Market
During its first year of operation, the Toronto location recorded more than 110,000 visitors, a figure that BHC views as validation of underlying demand rather than a singular success metric. According to Nam, what mattered most was repeat visitation.
“Reaching more than 110,000 visitors in the first year suggested there is steady demand for Korean fried chicken in Canada,” she said. “More important than the number itself was seeing customers return over time, which showed that the experience met their expectations.”
Toronto’s dining landscape includes an increasingly crowded field of Korean fried chicken operators, ranging from independent concepts to international chains. While BHC anticipated strong engagement from Korean and broader Asian communities, the breadth of its customer base proved notable.
“While we expected interest from Korean and Asian communities, what stood out was how naturally non-Korean customers engaged with the menu,” Nam said. “Many were open to bold, seasoning-forward flavors and comfortable making BHC part of their regular dining choices.”
For BHC, the takeaway was clear. “The first year reinforced a simple point for us: cultural curiosity may bring customers in, but consistency and execution are what keep them coming back.”
BHC Chicken at The Well in Toronto. Photo: BHC Chicken
Menu Performance and Operational Adjustments
BHC entered Toronto with its core menu intact, led by signature offerings such as Bburinkle, Matcho King, and Gold King, flavours that have driven tens of millions of servings globally. These items performed strongly, reinforcing the brand’s confidence in its proprietary seasoning and sauce systems.
“Our core chicken items, especially those built around BHC’s signature seasonings and sauces, were received very well,” Nam said. “These flavors are central to the brand and difficult to replicate.”
Operating a busy downtown restaurant also surfaced areas that required refinement. The Toronto store experienced peak-time traffic patterns and service demands that differed from some Asian markets, prompting adjustments to menu balance and service flow.
“At the same time, operating a busy Toronto location highlighted areas that needed adjustment,” Nam said. “We fine-tuned menu balance and service flow to better match local dining habits and peak-time traffic.”
Those changes, she added, were informed by experience rather than experimentation. “One advantage BHC brings to this market is experience. The systems behind the food, recipes, training, and daily operations have been tested over time, which allowed us to make thoughtful adjustments rather than constant changes.”
Using Toronto as an Operational Benchmark
BHC’s Toronto location now serves as an internal reference point for evaluating future stores across Canada and the United States. According to Nam, the first year provided a realistic picture of what it takes to operate in a North American urban environment.
“The first year in Toronto gave us a realistic view of what it takes to operate in a North American urban environment,” she said. “We saw how supply, staffing, costs, and customer flow come together in practice.”
Rather than pursuing rapid multi-unit openings, the company is taking a measured approach built around single-unit franchised restaurants. Initial expansion will remain concentrated in Toronto and the broader Ontario market.
“With that experience, we’re now looking to expand through additional single-unit franchise locations, starting in Toronto and the broader Ontario area,” Nam said. “We’re also beginning to apply what we’ve learned as we explore future opportunities, keeping the focus on moving forward efficiently while staying grounded in day-to-day operations.”
BHC Chicken at The Well in Toronto. Photo: BHC Chicken
Canada’s Role in a Broader North American Strategy
While the Toronto store functions as a flagship, BHC does not view it as a standalone showcase. Instead, it serves as a data point that informs how the brand evaluates site performance, staffing models, and operational balance.
“Canada plays an important role in how we think about North America,” Nam said. “Toronto isn’t just a showcase store. It’s a reference point. Its performance helps us understand what a healthy store looks like in terms of traffic, staffing, and overall balance.”
Ontario’s density and retail structure have made it a natural focus for near-term growth. “Ontario, in particular, has the density and market structure that allows individual stores to stand on their own,” she said. “Our approach is to build solid locations one by one, using what we’ve already learned rather than rushing ahead.”
This strategy aligns with Dining Brands Group’s broader international expansion philosophy, which emphasizes disciplined growth over rapid footprint expansion.
Maintaining Consistency Across Borders
As BHC scales further into North America, maintaining consistency remains a central concern. The company relies on centralized recipe management, structured training, and close control of key ingredients to ensure uniformity across markets.
“Consistency has always been central to BHC,” Nam said. “We rely on centralized recipe management, structured training, and close control of key ingredients to ensure the food tastes the same wherever it’s served.”
At the store level, that consistency is reinforced through standardized operating guidelines and ongoing oversight. “As we grow, the focus isn’t on changing how the food is made, but on making sure new locations are set up to execute properly from day one,” she said.
BHC Chicken one year celebration at The Well in Toronto. Photo: BHC Chicken
Word of Mouth Drives Early Momentum
Marketing efforts in Toronto have been intentionally restrained, with an emphasis on organic discovery rather than heavy promotional campaigns. According to Nam, word of mouth and social sharing proved more effective than traditional advertising.
“In Toronto, much of the traction came from word of mouth and organic social activity, supported by simple local marketing,” she said. “Customers responded more to consistency and familiarity than to heavy promotion.”
The customer base has spanned multiple demographics, unified less by age or background and more by expectations around reliability and quality. “Our customer base has been broad, young professionals, families, and people who enjoy trying different foods, but what connects them is an expectation of reliability,” Nam said. “Seeing customers return regularly has been one of the most encouraging signs for us.”
What Comes Next for BHC in Canada
Looking ahead, BHC plans to build on the foundation established in Toronto through carefully selected franchised locations across Ontario, with Canada continuing to play a strategic role in its North American footprint.
“Customers can expect to see more BHC locations, starting with additional single-unit franchised restaurants across Toronto and Ontario,” Nam said. “The first location helped us understand what works here, and we’re building from that experience as we grow.”
The company also plans to continue integrating Korean culture into the brand experience as it expands. “Our focus is on expanding in a way that stays true to the food, and the experience people expect from BHC, while gradually introducing the brand to more communities across Canada and North America,” she said. “In addition, we plan to expand and introduce more locations where customers can experience BHC’s distinctive menu along with Korean culture.”
Self-checkouts at Loblaw Maple Leaf Gardens (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
Self-checkout was supposed to solve everything. Labour shortages. Rising wages. Customer demand for speed. Retailers across Canada invested millions in automation, convinced that convenience would unlock growth and protect margins.
Instead, it’s created a mess. Theft is soaring. Customers are frustrated. And the promised labour savings have been wiped out by shrinkage. As Sylvain Charlebois reported in Retail Insider earlier this month, some grocers are now removing self-checkout lanes and reopening staffed registers—not out of nostalgia, but because the business case collapsed.
This is the convenience trap in action. And it’s not limited to self-checkout.
Across Canadian retail, executives are betting on convenience as their competitive strategy. Push customers to e-commerce. Automate the in-store experience. Digitize everything. Make it faster, easier, more self-serve. The assumption is simple: if we’re the most convenient option, customers will choose us and margins will improve.
But here’s what they’re missing: convenience doesn’t win. At best, it just buys you time.
Why Convenience Feels Like Strategy (But Isn’t)
The appeal of convenience is obvious. It seems measurable. Quantifiable. Modern. You can show the board a clean ROI projection. You can track adoption rates of your app. You can measure average transaction time.
But convenience investments share a critical flaw: they don’t create defensible competitive advantage. They create operational parity.
Think about self-checkout. When one grocer installs it, competitors match within months. The “convenience advantage” disappears instantly. You’ve spent millions on technology that’s now table stakes, created new operational problems (like theft and customer frustration), and you’re no more differentiated than you were before.
The same pattern plays out with digital investments. Curbside pickup. Mobile ordering. Delivery partnerships. These aren’t strategies—they’re responses to changing customer expectations. And responses, by definition, aren’t differentiation. They’re just keeping pace.
You attract the wrong customers. Convenience appeals to price-sensitive, promiscuous shoppers who will abandon you the instant someone offers marginally less friction. These aren’t loyal customers. They’re transaction-seekers.
You shift work without shifting value. As Charlebois points out, grocers have transferred labour to customers without offering any benefit. Customers now scan, bag, and troubleshoot errors while paying 27% more for food than five years ago. That’s not a value proposition. That’s asking customers to work harder and pay more for the privilege.
You create operational complexity. Every new convenience feature adds complexity to your operations. More technology to maintain. More integration points. More failure modes. And when it fails—like self-checkout’s constant “wait for assistance” messages—the convenience promise becomes a source of frustration.
Future Walmart store at Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton. Image: Walmart Canada
The Real Winners Aren’t Competing on Convenience
Here’s where it gets interesting: the companies we think of as most convenient aren’t actually competing on convenience at all.
Take Walmart. Yes, they have stores everywhere. Yes, they offer pickup and delivery. But that’s not what they’re competing on. Walmart competes on operational excellence—massive scale, ruthlessly efficient supply chains, and supplier negotiations that let them pass savings to customers across every category.
The convenience is a feature of that operational excellence, not the strategy itself. Their “Everyday Low Prices” promise is delivered through quality execution: reliable products, consistent availability, predictable value. The convenience just makes that quality easier to access.
The convenience doesn’t create the advantage. The quality creates the advantage. The convenience just removes barriers to accessing it.
What Happens When You Start With Quality Instead
The alternative isn’t to ignore convenience. It’s to understand what convenience should actually do: enable access to the quality outcomes customers value.
This means asking different questions.
Not “How can we make checkout faster?” but “What checkout experience actually serves our customers’ needs?”
Not “How do we push more transactions to our app?” but “What problems does our app solve that improve outcomes for customers?”
Not “How do we automate everything?” but “Where does human interaction create value customers will pay for?”
When you start with quality—defining what outcomes your customers actually value—convenience becomes a tool to deliver that quality more effectively. Not the strategy itself.
Consider Decathlon or Uniqlo. Both retailers use RFID tags on merchandise. Customers drop items in a bin, the system calculates the total instantly. No scanning. No errors. No “unexpected item in the bagging area.”
That’s not convenience for convenience’s sake. It’s technology deployed to deliver a quality outcome: an accurate transaction that respects the customer’s time and trust. The convenience serves the quality promise.
The Strategic Question Canadian Retailers Need to Answer
Here’s the test: If a competitor matches your convenience investments tomorrow, what competitive advantage do you have left?
If the answer is “none,” you’re not competing on quality. You’re competing on convenience. And convenience advantages are temporary at best, counterproductive at worst.
The retailers who will thrive aren’t the ones investing most heavily in convenience. They’re the ones who understand what quality means in their category, then use convenience to make that quality more accessible.
That might mean removing self-checkout if it degrades the transaction experience. It might mean maintaining staffed departments even when automation is cheaper. It might mean slower checkouts that actually work rather than faster ones that frustrate.
The convenience trap is seductive because it promises measurable results and modern solutions. But convenience without quality is just efficiency at delivering mediocrity. And in 2025, customers can tell the difference.
The question for Canadian retail leaders isn’t “How do we become more convenient?” It’s “What quality do we deliver that customers value enough to choose us?” Answer that first. Then figure out how to make it convenient.
Because if you’re betting everything on convenience, you’re not building a competitive advantage. You’re just buying time until someone else out-conveniences you.
If you are interested in learning more about the convenience delusion and other strategies that keep companies from competing on quality, you can request a copy of The Courage to Compete on Quality here.
Toronto-based rax is pushing its peer-to-peer “shared wardrobe” concept into its next phase of growth, using a marketplace model that avoids owning inventory while connecting lenders and borrowers through a mobile app. Founded by Marley Alles, the platform positions itself as a practical alternative to one-time fashion purchases, particularly in categories like wedding guest dressing, bridal looks, and other occasion-driven apparel where utilization is low and closet turnover is high.
“We are the only peer-to-peer clothing rental app in Canada, so kind of like a Poshmark or a Depop, but for rentals,” Alles said. “What we’ve done is we don’t own any of the inventory, so we’re just sort of the marketplace that connects that person that wants that item.”
The company’s near-term strategy blends product growth with in-person community building in Toronto, while also laying groundwork for international expansion and longer-term enterprise opportunities with fashion brands. That multi-track approach is central to the Rax expansion narrative, as the company works to scale adoption in a category that still requires consumer education.
Marley Alles
The modern clothing rental market has often struggled with the high cost of inventory ownership, cleaning, warehousing, and reverse logistics. Alles believes rax’s marketplace structure is a different path to scale, because it shifts garment ownership and care decisions back to users, while rax earns revenue through transaction fees.
“We take a 20% commission on each transaction,” she said. “It’s free to use, we just take a commission.”
From a retail industry perspective, the bet is that technology, trust systems, and local density can make rentals feel as normal as resale, especially among younger shoppers who already participate in secondhand, thrifting, and social-driven commerce.
From Wedding Guest Dresses to “Airbnb for Fashion”
While rax supports multiple categories, Alles said the strongest performance is in formalwear, particularly summer wedding season.
“Our core is like that wedding guest dress,” she said. “Summer’s our biggest season because I had like five weddings this summer.”
That customer behaviour underpins the “cost per wear” argument, but rax is leaning into a more explicit financial framing to motivate lending. Alles described it as “Airbnb for fashion,” a way to treat high-ticket pieces as revenue-generating assets rather than dormant closet items.
“Even though I’m spending $900 on a dress, it’s actually an investment,” she said. “I could potentially make more than I even spent on it by renting it out a few times.”
She added that quality garments can cycle repeatedly if cared for properly, and that user pricing can flex based on demand and availability. “If it’s out of stock or super popular, they can actually get away with renting it out for pretty close to retail value, which is pretty shocking,” she said.
Building Trust, Reviews, and Real-World Meetups
As with other peer-to-peer marketplaces, trust is a core adoption barrier. Rax uses profiles, social handles, and reviews to reduce perceived risk for both sides of the transaction.
“Trust is the number one thing,” Alles said. “We have a review system so you can review the item, had a great experience with the lender, or didn’t.”
Garment care is handled by the lender after return, which is a notable operational decision that keeps the platform lightweight while allowing lenders to bake cleaning costs into pricing. “Garment care is on the lender,” she said. “They can clean it the way they want.”
The business also leans on in-person engagement as a growth lever, particularly because the concept still needs explanation for many consumers. “We try to do a lot of in-person activations because it is such a new idea,” Alles said. “People do have a lot of questions about how it works.”
Creator Closet Sale Strategy Becomes a Repeatable Growth Channel
Rax is also scaling through community-led commerce, including pop-ups that turn creators’ closets into physical retail moments. The company is hosting a creator closet sale in Toronto on December 21, running from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at 484 Spadina Avenue, featuring five influencers with a combined reach described as 1.3 million in the original pitch. Rax’s Instagram promotion for the event has also positioned it as an RSVP-driven activation. instagram.com
For rax, these creator-driven events do two jobs. They convert influencer audiences into app users, and they give the company a live environment to explain the process, solve friction in real time, and strengthen community trust.
Influencers are also structurally well suited to the model. “They’re attending a ton of events wanting to wear things new to every event,” Alles said. “They get sent a ton of clothes, so their closet is literally bursting out the seams.”
Early Traction, Grants, and Visibility Fuel the Next Stage
Rax’s growth story includes a mix of bootstrapping, public visibility, and external validation. Alles has been recognized as a Corporate Knights 30 Under 30 honouree, with the publication listing her as founder of Rax in its youth sustainability leaders coverage. The company has also been profiled through Queen’s Smith School of Business alumni entrepreneurship coverage.
In addition, Alles won a $40,000 Coors Legacy Lift grant, which has been reported by Canadian marketing trade coverage and amplified through industry channels.
Most recently, TechCrunch coverage has tied rax’s momentum to its U.S. push, including reporting that the company won “top consumer pitch” at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 and is expanding into the American market.
For a Canadian retail-tech startup, that kind of international exposure can help unlock partnerships, hiring, and investor conversations, even if the operational work still comes down to building density market by market.
U.S. Launch Brings More Competition, and More Ceiling
Alles described the U.S. as both a bigger opportunity and a tougher arena. “We’re slowly launching into the U.S.,” she said. “It’s a little bit more of a competitive market there.”
That expansion matters strategically because peer-to-peer marketplaces benefit from scale effects. More users and more listings can tighten search relevance, improve availability, and reduce the friction of finding the right size, colour, and occasion. Within the app, rax supports filtering by size, colour, category, and event type. Alles said the platform also supports use cases beyond formalwear, including maternity categories where the need is temporary.
Longer-Term: Rental as a Service for Brands
While the immediate focus is user growth and geographic expansion, Alles also flagged a longer-term B2B path that would place rax closer to traditional fashion players instead of purely competing against them.
“We eventually want to partner with fashion brands to power their rental,” she said, pointing to sustainability pressure and the need to “close the loop.” The concept, as described, is that rax would provide the technology layer and user behaviour insight, while brands would gain a path into rental without building the infrastructure from scratch.
If executed, that approach could become a meaningful extension of the Rax expansion strategy, positioning the company not only as a consumer marketplace, but also as a rental enablement partner for brands navigating circularity, regulation, and shifting consumer attitudes around access versus ownership.
Vancouver can no longer support the volume. Occupancy is holding in the 90 per cent range, average daily rates are high, and city studies project a shortfall of 10,000 hotel rooms in the coming years.
Despite this, there are few hotel projects moving forward under current financing and policy conditions.
This means Vancouver is not positioned to fully capitalize on the tourism rebound. The city risks losing visitor spending, international event capacity and future economic opportunities simply because there are not enough rooms.
Deecorp Properties Ltd., a commercial real estate company based in Vancouver, has three hotel projects it is hoping to build in the city comprising more than 1,000 rooms located at the corners of Granville and Davie, Granville and Pender, and 8th and Yukon. They are three of the most strategically located hotel development sites in in Vancouver’s core transit and cultural corridors.
Stanley Dee
“(The) hotel (sector) is grossly underserved. We think we’re doing the city a great favour, and it’s economically viable,” said Stanley Dee, founder of Deecorp,
He said the project at Davie and Granville is “right at the beachhead of the Granville Entertainment District, which the City of Vancouver has focused on these last couple of years.”
“The new plan for Granville Street is quite exciting, and they’d like to see projects like this, this being a very important corner in that entertainment district— in fact, the most important corner, I’d say,” explained Dee.
“The project is due for public hearing January 15. And we’d be very surprised if it’s not passed. There’s a lot of support.
“It’s about 460 rooms: roughly 180 regular full-service upscale hotel rooms. Above that will be 280 larger long-stay rooms— limited service and longer stay. The average person there might stay a week or two or three or four, versus one to three days in the regular full-service hotel.”
Dee said the proposed project at Granville and Pender is at one of the busiest intersections in that part of downtown.
“It also happens to be exactly where the CanadaLine, the most important transit line coming through Vancouver, exits at the terminus. You get out of the CanadaLine and one of the exits is right in front of the building,” he said.
“So it’s very transit-friendly, right in the heart of transit. It’s also very close to the cruise ship terminals, the convention centres, Gastown— all that. It’s at the confluence of all these high-energy things, and at the end of Pacific Centre Mall. From all the hoteliers we spoke to, it’s kind of the 10-out-of-10 hotel location in the city.”
This project would be just over 400 rooms.
“Actually, with that one we’re considering putting a very large residential component, and that’s yet to be determined. We just submitted the application (recently).”
Dee said the 8th and Yukon project is a block from the next most important intersection outside of downtown, Broadway and Cambie. It’s also a block from the SkyTrain station.
“What’s also really good here is the slope from Broadway down to the water. There’s a gentle slope, amazing views, and no tall buildings in front of us, one or two six- or seven-storey buildings,” he said, adding this project would probably have more rooms than the other two.
“But we’re earlier in planning. We see demand for space, meeting space, convention space. We’re not competing with the convention centre, but right now all the good meeting space is downtown. There’s nothing else in Vancouver. There’s a Holiday Inn three or four blocks up, built about 60 years ago, with a couple of tiny rooms. No meaningful meeting space.
“We’ll probably have a lot of meeting space and a lot of long-stay hotel rooms. Long-stay works because we have two great grocery stores,Whole Foods and Save-On-Foods, within a block. Someone coming for one to three weeks probably doesn’t want to eat out all the time. They want prepared food, heat-up food, some basic cooking. Those are long-stay hotels.”
Project at Granville and Davie. Image: Deecorp
Deecorp was founded by Dee in 1994. Over the past 31 years it has acquired, developed, financed, and managed a portfolio of real estate assets with a combined value of over $600 million.
Business, sporting and cultural events supported by Destination Vancouver delivered significant economic and social value to the city in 2024, according to a new independent report from MNP that highlights the scale and impact of Vancouver’s event sector. These events represented $338 million in direct spending alone, said the organization.
Tariffs are continuing to put a strain on retailers, who can’t indefinitely absorb the rising expenses that they cause
Tariffs have become an unavoidable part of today’s global economy, reshaping the way brands and their partners operate. Higher import fees, fluctuating costs, and unpredictable pricing are creating a difficult environment for every link in the value chain. Businesses are being asked to stretch resources further than ever, often without the safety net of stable margins.
Yet disruption doesn’t have to translate into decline. In fact, these conditions present an opportunity to rethink how you support your partner network and align more closely with the people selling your products every day. Tariff volatility can either strain your channel relationships or become the catalyst for stronger collaboration, depending almost entirely on how you respond.
One of the most effective ways to help partners stay resilient? Strategic, targeted promotions that give them confidence to compete without compromising your brand. According to UBS, a 10% tariff can drive retail prices up by roughly 4%. With margins already tight, retailers can’t indefinitely absorb rising expenses. Attempting to shoulder tariff increases alone slows reinvestment, impacts innovation, and threatens jobs across the ecosystem.
The Value of Your Partner Network
Your partners (retailers, resellers, distributors, service providers) are feeling this pressure acutely. When their ability to maintain healthy margins deteriorates, it becomes harder for them to promote your products, prioritize your brand, or invest in customer experience. But here’s the good news: moments of economic strain provide powerful openings for brands that step forward with meaningful support.
Partners are on the ground navigating customer expectations, cost fluctuations, and competitive pressures in real time. As tariffs reshape the landscape, they need more than sympathy; they need practical tools that help them maintain profitability and sell with conviction. Your partner ecosystem is far more than a simple distribution network; it is a strategic asset that determines how effectively your brand reaches the market. Long-term success comes from empowering this ecosystem, not tightening constraints around it.
When market uncertainty rises, partners actively look for brands that help them maintain stability. Supportive brands earn trust, secure prime shelf or promotional space, and build advocates who will champion them even when conditions are tough.
In short, strategic promotions aimed at protecting partner margins can:
Strengthen competitiveness without altering MSRP
Sustain brand visibility throughout the channel
Fuel engagement while avoiding price erosion
Why Blanket Discounts Can Backfire
When tariffs put pressure on pricing, discounting may feel like the quickest fix. But across industries, widespread discounting tends to create more long-term damage than short-term benefits. That’s because price cuts:
Undermine partner profitability
Chip away at brand value
Reset customer expectations to “wait for the next sale”
Once customers become conditioned to lower prices, restoring standard pricing becomes extremely challenging. Discount-heavy strategies often spiral into margin decline and brand devaluation, leaving partners discouraged and less inclined to invest in your product line.
What partners truly need is support that helps them compete without sacrificing price integrity. That’s where smart, precisely targeted promotions outperform conventional discounting. Well-designed promotions maintain MSRP, preserve perceived value, and still give customers a compelling incentive to purchase — all while helping partners stay profitable.
Ways to Support Partners Without Touching MSRP
Below are four promotion types that can be effectively implemented to help brands provide meaningful support while keeping margins intact.
1. Cashback Promotions
Cashback allows customers to benefit from savings after the purchase rather than at the shelf. These promotions:
Deliver a win-win scenario: buyers enjoy savings while partners remain financially healthy
Cashback programs are one of four promotion types that can be implemented to help brands provide meaningful support while keeping margins intact
2. Trade-In Promotions
Trade-in programs allow customers to upgrade affordably while giving partners a competitive edge – all without adjusting the retail price. Trade-ins help:
Offset rising costs without altering the sticker price
Reinforce sustainability narratives
Encourage repeat business and deepen brand loyalty
3. Gift With Purchase
Value-added gifts shape a positive purchase experience without reducing the price of your product. A strong Gift with Purchase:
Differentiates your offering in crowded categories
Increases perceived customer value
Supports partners by keeping margins stable and promotions attractive
4. Buy & Try Promotions
For newer or higher-consideration products, allowing customers to try before fully committing removes a major psychological barrier. Buy & Try programs:
Increase confidence in your product
Reduce purchase hesitation
Lift conversion rates while minimizing returns
Not Just Sales Drivers
Promotions aren’t only about generating volume; they’re about strengthening the relationships that carry your brand to market. When partners feel supported, capable, and confident, they don’t just sell more, they become brand ambassadors. The right promotion can accomplish a number of objectives, including equipping partners to close deals more easily; emphasize your brand’s value versus competitors; and demonstrate that you are invested in their success, especially when conditions are challenging. Ultimately, empowered partners sell with more conviction, invest more energy into your product line, and reward your support with loyalty.
Tariffs will continue to fluctuate, and cost pressures won’t disappear anytime soon. But brands that respond with thoughtful, partner-focused promotions can turn market instability into a competitive advantage. By embracing smarter ways to support your partners, you can protect margins, boost sell-through, and reinforce your brand’s resilience. When your partners succeed — even in challenging conditions — your brand becomes stronger, more agile, and better positioned for long-term growth. Because when your partners thrive, your brand thrives right along with them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Fournier-Gonzalez is the Vice President of Sales for Opia, a global leader in high-impact sales promotions, value-driven customer acquisition programs, and loyalty solutions for some of the world’s most recognized brands. Follow her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahfournierg/.
