Castanet

damama55 wrote:From the Huff Post--
"The Brick--the chain is offering a $100 gift card to Sears Canada extended warranty holders to offset the cost of repairs.

The Brick also wants "to employ staff who will be displaced by the Sears closure." It is launching hiring fairs in markets where Sears stores have shut down, to fill 300 open positions at its stores.

That's a drop in the bucket when considering that 12,000 people stand to lose their jobs as Sears shuts down its 130 remaining stores across Canada."

This is nice to see a big chain store is trying to help and ease the situation many folks are in. At least, the Brick is trying.

forumdoug wrote:It'd be nice if they actually opened a Leon's banner corporately-owned store in many Sears Home locations across the country to further expand Leon's out west. That way, we'd have a Leon's and The Brick. :)

Cheers,
Doug

Why would Leon's open a store in Kelowna with it's subsidiary The Brick already here.

GordonH wrote:Why would Leon's open a store in Kelowna with it's subsidiary The Brick already here.

Because it worked out so well for Future Shop and BestBuy.................... oh....... wait............

So now it's over for Sears - what a waste.

Sears, was an example of what incredibly bad management can do to a well established (100 year old plus) company.

spudnut wrote:So now it's over for Sears - what a waste.

Sears, was an example of what incredibly bad management can do to a well established (100 year old plus) company.

The Bay is next... if it wasn't for their vast real estate holdings they'd be long gone already, too (due to mismanagement etc.) ... but their board will continue to sell off their real assets while paying themselves bonuses because of those "earnings" until its all gone and then we will see history repeat itself ...

Old Techie wrote:

GordonH wrote:Why would Leon's open a store in Kelowna with it's subsidiary The Brick already here.

Because it worked out so well for Future Shop and BestBuy.................... oh....... wait............

Well, actually, Leon's is doing that right now. They are trying to expand the Leon's brand in to B.C. as they have a slightly different market, clientele and sales strategy. They bought a few former Sears and Target locations in B.C. already. :)

And, they're actually doing quite well at it - they consistently grow the top & bottom lines every quarter. :)

I could potentially see a Canadian Tire buying up Leon's to add furniture & appliances to the mix.

Think of the synergies, buying power, vertical integration etc. from so many product verticals:

Canadian Tire Corp.
- Canadian Tire Retail (inclusive of Dealer and Associate main line stores)
- Canadian Tire Petroleum (inclusive of Gas Bars and the special Pit Stop locations on the 401 or 407 highway in Ontario)
- Mark's (corporate-owned stores)
- FGL Group Ltd (inclusive of company-owned Sport Chek, Sport Mart, Atmosphere, HockeyExperts and SportsExperts stores)
- PartSource
- Furniture, Mattresses and Appliances Business Unit (inclusive of Leon's, The Brick and any United Furniture Warehouse locations not yet rebranded as The Brick or The Brick Mattress Store)
- Canadian Tire Financial Services Ltd (of which it owns an 80% stake, with Scotiabank owning 20%, and inclusive of Canadian Tire Bank)

Am I missing anything?

Cheers,
Doug

RVThereYet wrote:Sears, was an example of what incredibly bad management can do to a well established (100 year old plus) company.

The Bay is next... if it wasn't for their vast real estate holdings they'd be long gone already, too (due to mismanagement etc.) ... but their board will continue to sell off their real assets while paying themselves bonuses because of those "earnings" until its all gone and then we will see history repeat itself ...[/quote]

Even that, I question the value of a lot of it, outside of Toronto, New York and Frankfurt maybe. A lot of their stores are either corporate-owned or ground leases that they "own" in smaller towns. If their stores close, the value of the real estate goes down with a huge hole to fill.

Plus, they've already sold off parts in some JVs to RioCan and pension funds. RioCan is also selling something like 70% of its income-producing properties that it views as non-core to focus on mixed-used retail/apartment/condo buildings. They've already sold the Oliver mall to CT REIT, of which Canadian Tire and Mark's are tenants. I expect Dilworth Shopping Centre and the mall with Staples and Prospera in it in Vernon to be sold in 2018, too. I'm thinking either CT REIT, Choice Properties REIT, Plaza Retail REIT or Smart REIT would be likely buyers - as would pension funds.

Cheers,
Doug

spudnut wrote:So now it's over for Sears - what a waste.

Sears, was an example of what incredibly bad management can do to a well established (100 year old plus) company.

Not to mention that Sears was also one of the original on-line shopping stores.

spudnut wrote:So now it's over for Sears - what a waste.

Sears, was an example of what incredibly bad management can do to a well established (100 year old plus) company.

Anonymous123 wrote:Not to mention that Sears was also one of the original on-line shopping stores.

Back with one of these:

Yeah, gonna miss the old catalog.

Also, loving the picture of the rotary dial phone. My folks still have one hooked up in their basement. Smartphones are great and all, but those dainty, quickly obsoleted devices would never stand the angry slammings that a good old BC Tel phone would.

When I said on-line I really meant party-line.

Similar to consumers distributing. The Uk has their own still going strong - Argos.

Anonymous123 wrote:When I said on-line I really meant party-line.

Gotta love the Party Line too, all your neighbors somehow knew when your new TV was arriving and you would suddenly have a party in your house.

I also remember when Sears actually sold products that would last decades.
My mom bought a new microwave just a year ago through the Sears catalog.
It died today, just surpassing the warranty. ( not that their warranty means a thing now )