[Northern Light]

National Sports stores all closing despite parent-company Canadian Tire posting 'phenomenal' Q4 earnings​

February 18, 2021

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. says it's closing all its National Sports stores to reduce overlap in the company's sporting goods assortment after an internal evaluation.

All 18 of the retail stores across southern Ontario will be closing, Gregory Craig, the retailer's chief financial officer, told investors on Thursday.

"This has been a difficult decision, particularly due to its impact on people," he said during a conference call. "We're making every effort to place affected employees within our family of companies."

The company, which operates multiple retailers including Canadian Tire, Mark's, SportChek, Atmosphere, Sports Experts and Pro Hockey Life, made the announcement as it reported that its fourth-quarter profit and revenue both rose significantly compared with a year ago.

National Sports, which carries sportswear, shoes and gear, was launched in 1968 as National Gym Clothing Ltd., according to its website.

Closing National Sports is part of the company's strategy to increase operational efficiencies and focus on core assets, said Greg Hicks, president and CEO of Canadian Tire Corp.

National Sports stores all closing despite parent-company Canadian Tire posting 'phenomenal' Q4 earnings

Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. says it's closing all its National Sports stores to reduce overlap in the company's sporting goods assortment after an internal evaluation.

toronto.ctvnews.ca

I have to say, there were choices in sports clothing and footwear I could find at National that I could not find at other CT owned spaces.

This is an illustration of the problem of permitting companies that are substantially unrelated to buy one another for the sake of growth.

Eventually, someone comes along and say 'Why did we do that'? The decision to go with closure when the business was in fact sound, rather than choosing to sell it off or spin it off appears to be me, to be one
of competition prevention, rather than one of necessity or prudence.

National's problems are largely limited to being a forgotten banner at the edge of a corporate behemoth; and a succession of bosses who lacked vision for what it could be.

 

[Tuscani01]

I would certainly suggest a note to their customer service folks.

That can be done here: https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/customer-service/contact-us.html

Perhaps it would be useful, not necessarily for this particular situation, to flag our local CT expert on this issue as well; he might have some insight, or might be able to bring some back to CT.

@Tuscani01

I vaguely recall earlier discussions with the resident 'CT guy' and recall even he admitted their website was wanting. It's a small town so I know our local manager/franchisee. He would have little control or input over the functioning of their online platform. I simply have trouble making it work - maybe it's me or my browser.

I refuse to use CT for online purchases during curbside only for the reasons everyone else has already listed. Closest store to me is Leslie/Lake Shore and I have heard of week long delays getting orders from there. Liberty Village is still same day mostly, but it's a trek for me to get there.

Amazon for the win!

 

[Northern Light]

I refuse to use CT for online purchases during curbside only for the reasons everyone else has already listed. Closest store to me is Leslie/Lake Shore and I have heard of week long delays getting orders from there. Liberty Village is still same day mostly, but it's a trek for me to get there.

Amazon for the win!

Ouch!

When the future CEO of the place throws it under the bus......

LOL

 

[PinkLucy]

I refuse to use CT for online purchases during curbside only for the reasons everyone else has already listed. Closest store to me is Leslie/Lake Shore and I have heard of week long delays getting orders from there. Liberty Village is still same day mostly, but it's a trek for me to get there.

Amazon for the win!

Week long is good compared to my local store. Same day? A dream! Michael's has done a great job of same day this go-around; their website is still kind of sucky, but once I figured it out, I was able to pick up what I was looking for within an hour.

 

[Bayer]

So. I placed my order on Feb. 6, I received a shipping notification on Feb. 9, but it actually shipped on Feb. 18 and is supposed to get here on Feb. 22... from York. Still unable to log into my account, I tried everything: new password, another browser... I was able to reach their customer service through their website though, providing all relevant information. Two days later, they asked me to call them. So yeah, every single aspect of my purchase has been hopelessly pathetic. Let's see what happens when I open the box, I'll be shocked if I actually get what I ordered.

 

[interchange42]

So. I placed my order on Feb. 6, I received a shipping notification on Feb. 9, but it actually shipped on Feb. 18 and is supposed to get here on Feb. 22... from York. Still unable to log into my account, I tried everything: new password, another browser... I was able to reach their customer service through their website though, providing all relevant information. Two days later, they asked me to call them. So yeah, every single aspect of my purchase has been hopelessly pathetic. Let's see what happens when I open the box, I'll be shocked if I actually get what I ordered.

And?!

42

 

[Bayer]

And?!

42

I actually received what I ordered on the 22nd. All is well that ends well. Of course, it took four days for the package to get from "York" to Bay and Bloor, by way of Mississauga (?), but that's Canada Post. Nevertheless I am going to avoid their website in the future.

 

[bcx]

Not sure what's going on with the Eaton Centre store but my order for pickup was cancelled. It was for four items. So either their in-stock info is deceptive or they're having other problems.

Placed two pick-up orders for the Yonge & Church location and they were quickly confirmed and the pick-up process was fast and easy.

One thing Canadian Tire could improve is to allow for more detailed inventory (some items are just "assorted" so you don't know what variation you may get) or allow for notes in the order so you can put in preferences.

 

[wopchop]

Not sure what's going on with the Eaton Centre store but my order for pickup was cancelled. It was for four items. So either their in-stock info is deceptive or they're having other problems.

There is something seriously wrong with that store.

We went in this week to buy some large bulky items for a site office - folding tables, chairs, etc.

We parked in the parkade and tried to access it that way, but it is still closed. The store has zero carts, despite selling thousands of bulky items carried at every CT store (i.e. mini fridges, some furniture, tool boxes etc. ), which is pretty confusing. Are they shipping this stuff to people's home? Why even offer this shit if people cannot carry it?

The staff is poorly trained - people telling us carts are on the main floor and other saying they don't have any carts at all. One guy said the carts were in the parkade by the elevators.

 

[Northern Light]

There is something seriously wrong with that store.

We went in this week to buy some large bulky items for a site office - folding tables, chairs, etc.

We parked in the parkade and tried to access it that way, but it is still closed. The store has zero carts, despite selling thousands of bulky items carried at every CT store (i.e. mini fridges, some furniture, tool boxes etc. ), which is pretty confusing. Are they shipping this stuff to people's home? Why even offer this shit if people cannot carry it?

The staff is poorly trained - people telling us carts are on the main floor and other saying they don't have any carts at all. One guy said the carts were in the parkade by the elevators.

Put this complaint in through the PR folks.

That may not be enough, but start there. If that doesn't work, I can probably find you an email addy that will.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

There is something seriously wrong with that store.

We went in this week to buy some large bulky items for a site office - folding tables, chairs, etc.

We parked in the parkade and tried to access it that way, but it is still closed. The store has zero carts, despite selling thousands of bulky items carried at every CT store (i.e. mini fridges, some furniture, tool boxes etc. ), which is pretty confusing. Are they shipping this stuff to people's home? Why even offer this shit if people cannot carry it?

The staff is poorly trained - people telling us carts are on the main floor and other saying they don't have any carts at all. One guy said the carts were in the parkade by the elevators.

I absolutely agree! It seems like lately it is quickly dissolving into their standard disorganized and overstocked stores. I used to pop in to get stuff but no more, I much prefer going to their Stockyards or Leslie stores. Inventory is whack at the Yonge and Dundas store and it also doesn’t help that ever season they seem to flip the store.

Of note, probably the other worst store I have ever been to would be the Yonge and Steeles (Centrepoint mall) location. That store is also overly disorganized and far too overstocked. I’ve noticed that it is overstocked to the point that aisles there are super narrow.

 

[wopchop]

I absolutely agree! It seems like lately it is quickly dissolving into their standard disorganized and overstocked stores. I used to pop in to get stuff but no more, I much prefer going to their Stockyards or Leslie stores. Inventory is whack at the Yonge and Dundas store and it also doesn’t help that ever season they seem to flip the store.

The amount of stock was over the top.
There was a huge amount of tables and chairs. A dozen of each size of table, dozens upon dozens of different folding chairs. Stacks of patio chairs. I'm not sure how people are buying these and getting them back to their places - are they walking out the front door with them to Bay and Dundas?
I totally get having urban type stores, but this store is not operating that way - at all.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I actually received what I ordered on the 22nd. All is well that ends well. Of course, it took four days for the package to get from "York" to Bay and Bloor, by way of Mississauga (?), but that's Canada Post. Nevertheless I am going to avoid their website in the future.

Never use CT ecom. Even though they claim they're working on it:

https://etailcanada.wbresearch.com/blog/heres-how-canadian-tire-is-investing-big-in-ecommerce-strategy

It's because their dealers (CTC speak for franchise owner) are actually equity owners, in that corporate owns the real estate and fixtures, but the dealer owns all the inventory in the store, as well as all the staff (their paycheques come from Dealer # XX, not from CTC corporate). There are four store levels, A, B, C and D. Your A-store would be like the Lakeshore and Leslie store, back in my day that was their #1 store in Canada, bringing in ten million $ or more annually. The D-stores are the tiny, rundown stores you find in rural, small town Canada, generating maybe a million $ annually. When you want to become a CT dealer it is much less expensive than becoming a McDs or Timmies franchise owner, with the CT dealer needing to come up with a few hundred grand, instead of the $2 million of more for the chain fast food joints. But you'll start off with a low revenue D-store in Mud-hut, SK, population 2k, and then work your way up to an A-store, like those owned by the Benis clan, the founders of CT.

So, if CTC were to do ecom correctly, and ship B2C direct from their DC, the dealer at the local shop would be cut out of the deal, and would see a reduction in the value of their dealership, reducing their personal revenue, and their chances for advancing to a better store. And the CTC dealer association are wicked strong, with the staff at corporate scared sh#tless by their leverage. I saw for myself during site visits, the disdain the dealers had for anyone visiting from corporate. It is the CT dealer association that calls the shots about programs, policies and products, not corporate, nor the CT shareholders. The dealer association is boss! With this is mind CTC instead pushes every ecom order through the store closest to the customer - totally ignoring that the self-shopper model means there are no in-store staff to receive, pick and ship ecom orders, or to conduct regular inventory to ensure that the ecom and actual inventory matches up - with shrink/theft from both customers and employees making this an impossible task anyway, thanks to the self-shopper model's low staffing where no one GAF.

So, in short, never, ever, no once try to use CTC ecom, especially during the holidays when you need reliable availability and timely delivery.

 

[just east of the creek]

Never use CT ecom. Even though they claim they're working on it:

https://etailcanada.wbresearch.com/blog/heres-how-canadian-tire-is-investing-big-in-ecommerce-strategy

It's because their dealers (CTC speak for franchise owner) are actually equity owners, in that corporate owns the real estate and fixtures, but the dealer owns all the inventory in the store, as well as all the staff (their paycheques come from Dealer # XX, not from CTC corporate). There are four store levels, A, B, C and D. Your A-store would be like the Lakeshore and Leslie store, back in my day that was their #1 store in Canada, bringing in ten million $ or more annually. The D-stores are the tiny, rundown stores you find in rural, small town Canada, generating maybe a million $ annually. When you want to become a CT dealer it is much less expensive than becoming a McDs or Timmies franchise owner, with the CT dealer needing to come up with a few hundred grand, instead of the $2 million of more for the chain fast food joints. But you'll start off with a low revenue D-store in Mud-hut, SK, population 2k, and then work your way up to an A-store, like those owned by the Benis clan, the founders of CT.

So, if CTC were to do ecom correctly, and ship B2C direct from their DC, the dealer at the local shop would be cut out of the deal, and would see a reduction in the value of their dealership, reducing their personal revenue, and their chances for advancing to a better store. And the CTC dealer association are wicked strong, with the staff at corporate scared sh#tless by their leverage. I saw for myself during site visits, the disdain the dealers had for anyone visiting from corporate. It is the CT dealer association that calls the shots about programs, policies and products, not corporate, nor the CT shareholders. The dealer association is boss! With this is mind CTC instead pushes every ecom order through the store closest to the customer - totally ignoring that the self-shopper model means there are no in-store staff to receive, pick and ship ecom orders, or to conduct regular inventory to ensure that the ecom and actual inventory matches up - with shrink/theft from both customers and employees making this an impossible task anyway, thanks to the self-shopper model's low staffing where no one GAF.

So, in short, never, ever, no once try to use CTC ecom, especially during the holidays when you need reliable availability and timely delivery.

Is that the same model Home Hardware uses? our local HH is a little more rural focused then the HH I can use in suburban Halton or in Rexdale. But the service to in store pickup seems to be good. Or perhaps HH is more like the LCBO where again service to the smaller local store is terrific and I can get anything in the catalogue delivered in 3 or 4 days.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Is that the same model Home Hardware uses? our local HH is a little more rural focused then the HH I can use in suburban Halton or in Rexdale. But the service to in store pickup seems to be good. Or perhaps HH is more like the LCBO where again service to the smaller local store is terrific and I can get anything in the catalogue delivered in 3 or 4 days.

HH is more the traditional franchise, with the franchisee or dealer being the owner of the building, fixtures, inventory and staff. The HH dealer is not obliged to buy their inventory from the St. Jacobs DC and instead can buy direct from other suppliers. That’s not allowed at CT.