It was a particularly sad week for those of us who love the art of selling. The retail life cycle has claimed another retail giant. Sears Canada, after desperately holding its operations together for the past few months while it scrambled for someone to buy it, has filed for bankruptcy. The plan to have its former CEO put together a consortium to pull it out of the dumpster has failed and another chunk of Canadian mall space will need redesigning.
This coupled with the bankruptcy protection of Toys R’ Us now has put the reminder of big box retail on guard. Not so many years ago, you could see the demise of the high end retail sector starting to crumble. When Wal-Mart entered the Canadian market in the early 90’s the market started to turn and with the eruption of category killer stores, it made the department store of the 70’s a thing of the past. As we reflect on these retail departures, let’s look back fondly on other retail that has long since vanished:
- Zellers – March 2013
This one hit hard in my family. There were generations on family and friends who gave their blood, sweat and tears to this all-Canadian discounter. The end had been on the horizon for many years, as the battle for discount supremacy ran the direction of Wal-Mart. They gave us gifts such as Dollar Daze, the Skillet Restaurant and Club Z points but it wasn’t enough when the boys from Target came calling. I guess the saving grace is that they fought Wal-Mart for 20 years while Target failed here in less than 2.
2. Eaton’s – June 1999
The Eaton’s retail corporation was THE retail giant in this country for the better part of 100 years. As the market shifted towards discount, there was not room for this traditional mall anchor. The name was so widely respected that entire downtown shopping centres were anchored by their stores and the mall’s remained named “Eaton Centre” until even 2014. They gave us distinct gifts such as prestige service levels and a formidable catalogue business but it was the Eaton brand which remains burned into our minds today.
3. Woodward’s – September 1992
For several decades, Woodward’s WAS the epitome of the elite shopping experience In the days where Eaton’s, The Bay and they went head to head to head for the title of best service, there was no question who was that champion. Born out of the West Coast, the real estate of Woodward’s was one of its true assets. Many downtown shopping blocks in Western Canada were dominated by these massive stores and major shopping centres were also occupied by their footprint. When the HBC corporation took these spaces over in 1992, the legacy of the retailer ended. I was involved in one of those takeovers and can recount one amazing story. As we cleaned our way through one of these gargantuan buildings, we found a locked room in the basement filled with old fur coats that had been tucked away and forgotten about in the transition. The value of “lost” merchandise was tremendous and spoke to the pure affluence of it all.
4. Woolco – September 1991
Yes Woolco. The mighty ship of Wal-Mart cam into Canada in 1991 and took away our favorite reg light specials and their infamous $1.44 days. The landscape was never the same again in Canada and in some small way, their demise led to retail chaos in Canada. Their stores were notoriously junky and worn down but still effective. They were the first of the bi box stores to vacant the country and are revered in many places.
The bankruptcy train didn’t leave out it’s smaller and more formidable, category killer stores. Think about these stores who have now vanished from the Canadian retail scene:
Danier
Aeropostale
Smart Set
Grand & Toy
Beaver Lumber
A&B Sound
Future Shop
Bootlegger
And the hits keep coming at us with rumours that Claire’s, Payless Shoes and Gymboree will all become one of the recently departed. All the while, we continue to buy more and more from Amazon and other online retailers, making the hill even greater to climb for brick and mortar stores. Retail is meant to be an experience and good or bad, those companies that have left us, didn’t all do it wrong, they just ran into other retailers that did it better. Sobering thoughts for those of us who still make a living selling stuff.
Marco