Suzanne Sears Discusses Retail Staffing Challenges Last Year and 2023 Predictions
Craig sits down with Suzanne Sears, founder and President of Best Retail Careers International and Luxury Careers Canada, to discuss the December job numbers in Canada and how they pertain to retail. They then discuss what Suzanne anticipates will happen with retail staffing in Canada for 2023 as we continue to see the industry’s challenges unfold amid a labour shortage.
The Interview Series audio podcasts by Retail Insider Canada are available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Also check out our The Weekly audio podcast where Craig and Lee discuss popular content published on Retail Insider which is part of the The Retail Insider Podcast Network.
Drop us a line at Craig@Retail-Insider.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!
Background Music Credit: Hard Boiled Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
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 several days.
Ren's Pets at Liberty Village (Photo by Dustin Fuhs)
Ren’s Pets, a leading Canadian specialty retailer of pet food and supplies, is continuing to expand its urban store concept with a new location to open in The Beaches, in Toronto, in the fall.
It will join the initial launch of the concept at Liberty Village in Toronto and another location scheduled to open in February at The Junction.
Larissa Wasyliw, VP Ecommerce & Marketing for Ren’s Pets, said the company has a Toronto urban expansion strategy that it is focused on because of Toronto’s huge population and high pet ownership statistics.
“It makes it a great candidate for Ren’s stores but we knew that we wanted to be established in the GTA before we decided to tackle Toronto. So the Ren’s brand is very well known around the city of Toronto and then in September 2021 we opened our Liberty Village store which is just amazing for us,” she said.
Future Rens Pets Beaches Location
“It’s become such a success and it’s more of the smaller format. We use different fixtures inside and signage and it’s a completely different customer I would say because of that community being more walking . . . In February we’re opening up in The Junction in Toronto as well and The Beaches will be the third location in September this year.
“We’ve really identified 10 to 15 different locations across the city of Toronto that we think are great areas for Ren’s to have stores.”
Ren’s currently has 45 stores in Ontario and the Maritimes, with at least 10 additional new stores currently scheduled to open in 2023.
“We expect to have two more added to that list,” said Wasyliw. “So we feel that by the end of 2023 we’ll have 57 stores which is phenomenal growth over the last four years.
“Pet has always been an amazing stable category for retail. It’s an area where traditionally we see sales which are pretty good depending on the economy. With Ren’s we are a specialty pet retailer and really where our niche is is in premium high quality brands.
“So what we’ve been seeing from our customers is that even though there is a little bit of let’s watch our wallets in the economy right now, they are still highly interested in purchasing the best food for their pets because over the years pets have become family. They are really part of the household and especially during COVID that really increased pet ownership over those couple of years and now people just can’t live without their pets. So we just see the very big demand in primarily Ontario and we’re also in the Maritimes for more Ren’s locations with the specialty high quality premium brands that we carry. That’s really what our differentiator is.”
Image: Rens Pets Liberty Village
Expansion this year will include the two Toronto stores, another store in New Brunswick, two first stores in Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, and stores in Brockville and Cornwall as well as St. Thomas and Owen Sound. A second location is also going to Oakville which was the company’s first store 48 years ago. She said two more will be coming as well in the GTA area that have yet to be announced.
“We just think there’s so many opportunities for us to still have locations,” said Wasyliw. “And the opportunities are there for us to do that with real estate.”
Rendering: Rens Pets Junction
Scott Arsenault, CEO at Ren’s Pets, said the company is excited about opening in The Beaches as it knows the area has a very passionate pet community who is looking for the type of premium pet food, treats, and toys in the best brands that Ren’s carries.
“The new location couldn’t be more perfect, right by the grocery store, banks, library, and park which leads to the beach,” he said.
The Beaches store will have a 6,000-square-foot footprint, and feature Ren’s best selection of dog and cat products. This includes aisles of high-quality dog and cat food, displays of treats and toys, plus a special grooming section. There will also be 15 doors or 30’ of large walk-in freezers for raw and frozen pet food, one of the biggest selections in Toronto. The overall look of the store will have a fresh boutique style look, using updated signage, barn board and brick accents, and new styles of fixtures.
“We learned a lot opening our first urban location in Liberty Village, Toronto,” said Arsenault. “It showed us that pet parents in the city wanted smaller to medium sized bagged food, along with a large selection of raw frozen food. They loved bringing their pets in frequently when out for a walk to pick up a new treat or toy. We ended up expanding both our cat and grooming sections, to meet demand. We have The Junction, Toronto opening this February, and expect to see a lot of learnings from that urban location as well.”
Image: Ren’s Pets
Wasyliw said Liberty Village also quickly became its top DoorDash store, demonstrating how Toronto pet parents want same-day delivery for convenience.
“The Beaches should be similar, as it’s an easy way for dog and cat owners to get their pet supplies, in particular bigger bags of pet food and heavy kitty litter, delivered right to their doorstep,” she said.
“There are already a lot of Ren’s Rewards members from The Beaches area that shop with us now in our GTA stores or on the website. We know that these pet parents want a great neighbourhood pet store where they can bring their pets, chat with knowledgeable staff for advice, weigh their pet, try samples, and get fitted for halters or collars. We can’t wait to show The Beaches that Ren’s is here for your Pet’s Best Life with the best food, treats, and toys you can get for happy, healthy pets.”
Several new retailers, with a sporting twist, will be opening their doors at CF Market Mall in the coming months, Retail Insider has learned.
Paige O’Neill, General Manager of the popular shopping centre in northwest Calgary, told Retail Insider that stores set to open include Decathlon, JD Sports, Team Town, Milk Run and Athleta.
“Taking the old Saks OFF 5TH is Team Town which is a concept from Sporting Life,” she said. “They’re probably going to be open in the early spring. We also have JD Sports joining us. Decathlon is taking over the Toys R Us store. They are opening in the summer.
Saks Off Fifth at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
“We also have Athleta joining us. That’s a summer time opening as well. The athletic wear is just on fire. With COVID and people working from home, retailers have come into overlapping sort of work attire, athleta wear, depending on perhaps your company what business casual means these days. But athleta wear is definitely the hot ticket item . . . The cross shopping (with other stores such as lululemon) is really beneficial for all of the clients. It’s very popular and in demand.”
CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Future True North Mortgage at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Also coming to the mall is True North Mortgage.
The Starbucks, located at the busy entrance where the Apple store is situated, is currently undergoing a renovation to put in one of its newest concepts.
Coffee is a mainstay at many shopping centres across the country. And CF Market Mall has all the bases covered from top line national brands to a popular local independent.
Apple Store at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
This past year a Tim Hortons opened in the mall in a former Starbucks space.
“I think we’ve got every kind of coffee client covered now,” said O’Neill. “So lots of choices depending on your coffee tastes.”
The mall also has a Second Cup and a Deville coffee shop.
Deville Coffee at CF Market Mall (Image: Cadillac Fairview)Hurry Curry at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Hurry Curry in the food court opened in December. Two other food establishments – Lava Grill and Stuffies Pastries – are expected to open in the near future.
“We’re very happy that these will be joining because we’ve had some down time in the food court for awhile.”
Future Lava Grill at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
CF Market Mall has just over 200 stores and just over 900,000 square feet of real estate.
“A lot of our clients through Christmas were temp clients that have moved on,” said O’Neill as the mall shuffles through its tenant mix in the coming months.
Future Stuffies at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Updated Bath & Body Works Concept at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Bath & Body Works also renovated into its new concept and opened prior to Christmas.
In the former Bath & Body Works location, the concept Milk Run will be joining the tenant mix at CF Market Mall.
“They have a location at CrossIron Mills. It’s a very neat concept. Their products are branded Milk Run. They do nice fun build outs and it’s everything from baseball hats to T-shirts to sweatshirts . . . the whole nine yards. It’s kind of a unique concept I think will resonate here with the clients at Market Mall,” said O’Neill.
“It’s a temporary client. But you never know it could become a permanent one.”
CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Apple Store at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Specsavers at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Just Cozy at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Sporting Life at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Apple Store at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)Northern Reflections at CF Market Mall (Image: Mario Toneguzzi)
Why Canadian Retailers Need To Master Hybrid Shopping Experiences
Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy at SOTI, discusses a new report about the importance of retailers taking on a hybrid shopping experience to meet consumer expectations.
Anand talks about how consumer behaviour has changed in the past few years and what retailers need to do, the need to break down silos in retail operations, continued supply chain issues, and the growing trend in reverse logistics.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior News Editor with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
Also check out the other series offered by Retail Insider, including The Weekly podcast and The Interview Series, which are both available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Podcasts, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Simplecast and other podcast players.
Regardless of what role or level, everyone in retail faces the real challenge of keeping ahead of the most important trends and upskilling with necessary training to take advantage of new opportunities.
Retail Council of Canada (RCC) has listened to hundreds of retailers over the last few months about what they would like to learn and be streamlined into event or webinar content so they can quickly get up to speed on the actionable insights they need to execute more effective plans.
Below are just some of the exciting upcoming events and webinars scheduled for 2023. Be sure to bookmark the RCC events page and check back regularly for new sessions and speaker announcements:
This webinar, the first of a four-part series, will cover how to find and leverage insights on retail foot traffic and online consumer behaviour available on RCC’s Retail Pulse Dashboard. Register
Each quarter, Retail Council of Canada surveys executives from mid to large sized retailers from coast to coast to bring a retail insider’s perspective on retail performance for the past quarter. Register
A full-day conference for retail loss prevention, operations, and data professionals. This year’s content will delve into data breach response, in-store de-escalation strategies, and modern fraud trends. Buy tickets
Hear from inspirational speakers and talent leaders who will share the inside track on how they’re putting people first in their organizations. Buy tickets
RCC STORE 23 – May 30-31, 2023 Canada’s biggest two-day retail event will explore global commerce, consumer, and retail trends, contemporary leadership, and innovative retail technologies. It is also the absolutely best opportunity of the year to network and share learnings with thousands of other retailers. Buy tickets
Retail Marketing Conference – September 19, 2023 –SAVE THE DATE Learn, get inspired, and connect with today’s leading retail marketing and technology experts to help you craft more effectively strategies that will resonate with customers and enhance your brand.
NEW Retail Sustainability Conference – October 3, 2023 –SAVE THE DATE A full-day event designed to empower retailers and value chain partners with retail -specific strategies to support a circular economy, build resilient supply chains, and establish a route to net zero emissions.
Retail West Conference -Fall 2023 –DETAILS COMING SOON Regional and national retail experts share modern strategies for success in Western Canada and nationwide.
“This year we’ve had especially enthusiastic feedback from retailers on what they want to learn. There is a renewed eagerness amongst all types of retailers for their teams to participate in retail-specific events and training in 2023. With a mix of online webinars and training, as well as dynamic in person events – that are perfect for reviving personal networks- Retail Council of Canada is thrilled to introduce the best lineup of speakers and most new content we’ve ever had,” said Michelle Ribout, VP Education and Partnerships at Retail Council of Canada. “We’ve priced all our events and training programs so they are accessible to everyone in the industry. RCC members also enjoy significant savings on all our events and training programs. We’re looking forward to being part of helping everyone in retail advance their learning in 2023.”
For more information on Retail Council of Canada, please visit retailcouncil.org
It all started with one reporter taking a simple, trivial picture of an overpriced pack of five boneless, skinless chicken breasts. It was $26.87 a kilo, a world-class sticker shocker. It’s at least double what one would expect to pay for chicken breasts. Within hours, the picture became the lightning rod for frustrated consumers on social media. Loblaw and Galen Weston—the company’s Chairman, President, and well-known public persona of the company’ brand—became public enemy number one. Attacks were instant, and mostly vicious.
On the surface, the collective uproar against Loblaw lacked any rational thinking. The chicken breasts in the picture were skinless, boneless, and free from hormones and antibiotics which would make them premium products. Albeit the untrained eye couldn’t see the “PC FF” on the label, which meant “Free From”, but it was there. Other retailers in the Greater Toronto Area were even selling similar products at similar price points. Furthermore, for months now the poultry industry, including egg producers, have been challenged by an avian flu outbreak, affecting almost 300 farms across the country. Many of them are in Ontario. Almost 5 million birds were culled in the last year, preventing millions in inventory to reach the market. Supply-side pressures have been significant for a while. As such, prices for chicken, turkey, and eggs have all been impacted by the outbreak.
What also needs to be underscored is that chicken production is supply-managed in Canada. With our quota system, we essentially produce what we need and consume very little imported poultry products. The average net worth of a poultry and egg farmer in Canada is well over $6 million, according to Statistics Canada. Farmgate prices are set by boards which in turn are heavily influenced by production costs. Most years, farm prices will go up and the rest of the supply chain will cope with supply chain economics. That’s how supply management works. Poultry and egg prices have historically been more expensive in Canada than elsewhere in the Western world. Nonetheless, supply management has offered Canadians stable prices. In fact, chicken has been the more stable component of the meat trifecta, which also includes pork and beef. But since early 2020, the meat counter has increasingly become expensive, no matter what protein you are after. Many of these factors are far beyond Loblaw’s control.
Still, call it “chickengate” if you will, but instant public outcries like the one we witnessed with the picture of overpriced chicken breasts do happen for a reason. The last time Canada’s food inflation rate was below our nation’s general inflation rate was in October 2021. While everything in our lives got more expensive, it got significantly worse at the grocery store. Consumers are actively looking for a scapegoat, one they can relate to. Most consumers barely appreciate how farming, logistics, or even food processing works, but most of us have been to a grocery store several times in our lives. It’s a familiar environment for most of us. Grocery stores are portals to a very complex food system we can barely see and understand, so promptly blaming grocers for overpriced products is instinctive.
Like in many Western countries, higher food prices have been politicized in Canada leading to a parliamentary investigation in Ottawa, and broad-based inflationary support payments in provinces like Quebec and Prince Edward Island. These payments will likely make things worse, but it doesn’t matter.
Canada has one of the lowest food inflation rates in the Western world. Amongst G7 countries, only Japan has a lower food inflation rate right now. Higher food prices is a global phenomenon, full stop. Even if it makes little sense to blame one grocer, or even one man for our ills at the grocery store, Canadians have every right to be upset. Context is everything, and consumers are on edge and will second-guess anything and everything and have every reason to do so.
The bread price fixing scandal, which lasted fourteen years, the hero-pay debacle during the pandemic, almost forcing consumers to use self-checkout counters, all adds up to many Canadians feeling incredibly vulnerable and unprotected. In December, our Parliamentary Standing Committee in Agriculture and Agri-Food called top grocers to testify in Ottawa as part of an investigation of food inflation. None of the CEOs showed up, including Galen Weston himself. All of them opted to send their CFOs instead. They should have had the decency to show up and oblige our House of Commons, which represents the Canadian people.
The chicken breast incident points to how incredibly delicate things are right now. The food industry, and particularly grocers, are facing a crisis of confidence, no less. Consumers have become hyper-sensitive to any potential evidence suggesting abuse of market power and grocers will need to navigate the coming months with extreme caution. Showing more public empathy would be a good start.
In the meantime, consumers should know their prices even before they show up at the grocery store, stay calm, and read labels. If a price is beyond what was expected, just walk away. A more affordable substitute in the same exact store is likely within reach. Consumers have more power than they believe.
H&M at 13-15 Bloor Street West. Photo: Craig Patterson
Swedish fast-fashion retailer H&M will be shutting its second store in downtown Toronto in two months, leaving just a flagship location remaining in a major shopping centre.
Last month on December 11, H&M shut its standalone store at 429 Queen Street West, and now we’ve learned that a standalone store at 13-15 Bloor Street West will be shutting on January 22nd. That will leave one large H&M flagship store in downtown Toronto at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, representing a significant downsizing for the retailer in the area in a short period of time.
A sales associate at the Bloor Street store said that the location was closing due to low sales and high rents, with foot traffic said to be minimal particularly in the winter months. Shopping centre locations for H&M are performing better and the flagship store at CF Toronto Eaton Centre, spanning 48,600 square feet over three floors, remains profitable.
The Bloor Street H&M building is currently being offered for lease by JLL, and it will be interesting to see what will replace it. The dramatic three-level space is located just off the iconic corner of Yonge and Bloor streets and is next to The ONE which next year will tentatively be home to an Apple flagship store.
Men’s lower level at H&M on Bloor. Photo: Craig Patterson Main floor of H&M Bloor, housing women’s fashions. Photo: Craig Patterson Second level women’s fashions at H&M Bloor. Photo: Craig Patterson
A 50-foot frontage gives 13-15 Bloor Street West a prominence in the area. The building spans 19,800 square feet with each of the three floor plates spanning about 5,000 square feet. Ceiling heights of about 13 feet create a sense of volume in the space. Currently the main floor and second level house H&M’s women’s collections and the basement level has been home to menswear.
The Bloor Street store was one of the first in Canada for H&M when it opened in 2004. The recently shuttered Queen Street location opened in August of 2007 as part of a multi-store expansion for H&M in Canada at the time.
The Bloor Street H&M store had been quietly for lease for several years, and prior to the pandemic was said to be a target for US cannabis retailer MedMen. Brokers have said that numerous retailers have been shown the space since then though none have leased the spot as of press time.
To the left of the Bloor Street H&M store is an under construction Apple flagship store at The ONE. A Scotiabank is located on the other side. Photo: Craig Patterson Former H&M on Queen Street (Image: Dustin Fuhs)Former H&M on Queen Street (Image: Dustin Fuhs)
H&M has about 90 stores in Canada with nearly 40 of those being in Ontario. Besides the CF Toronto Eaton Centre store, H&M has locations in several Toronto malls as well as in the Greater Toronto Area. The company’s first Canadian store opened in 2004 at CF Fairview Mall in Toronto.
Last year H&M said that it would close over 240 stores and it appears that some of the closures are continuing into 2023. It’s not yet known if any more locations will be closing in Canada, and we’ll update this story when we learn more. H&M notes that consumers have shifted some spending online since the pandemic, resulting in the need for less physical stores.
Podcast: Retail Insider’s Top 2022 Most-Read Stories
Craig and Lee reflect on the articles that were popular for Retail Insider in 2022. Last year was a pivotal year for the Canadian retail industry that included some prominent store openings and closures, as well as some future announcements.
The Weekly podcast by Retail Insider Canada is available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Play, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players. Also check out ourThe Interview Seriespodcast where Craig interviews guests from across the Canadian retail landscape as part of theThe Retail Insider Podcast Network.
Drop us a line at Craig@Retail-Insider.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show!
Background Music Credit: Hard Boiled Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
Amlani talks about the biggest mistakes retailers are making today, their biggest challenges, trends in the industry, impact of supply chain issues and how rising costs will impact consumers.
The Video Interview Series by Retail Insider is available on YouTube.
Connect with Mario Toneguzzi, a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and the only Canadian – to learn how you can tell your story, share your message and amplify it to a wide audience. He is Senior News Editor with Retail Insider and owner of Mario Toneguzzi Communications Inc. and can be reached at mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com.
Also check out the other series offered by Retail Insider, including The Weekly podcast and The Interview Series, which are both available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn, Google Podcasts, or through our dedicated RSS feed for Simplecast and other podcast players.
