[Admiral Beez]

I'm here to take your money in exchange for the goods you've purchased, I am not a tradesman!!!!

 

[Undead]

CT and HD are unmitigated rubbish.

 

[Sky High Arch]

As with Home Depot, a large number of Lowes sites are in Industrial Commercial zones and unlikely to see residential development.

Those that may get that treatment, are largely not owned by Lowes Canada. (ie. Shopper's World Danforth, and Warden/Eglinton, both of which are Riocan)

I think the Reno-Depot business in Quebec was fairly sound before Lowe's entered the Canadian market, and probably still is.............

The problem is the English Canadian side, which Reno-Depot entered as RONA, and Lowes.

Aside from @afransen 's example above...........

My observations of Lowe's in Canada would be that they were tasked with taking marketshare from Home Depot.

HD didn't really have a direct competitor of any scale in Canada when they entered (sure there's overlap with CT, but CT has automotive, camping, sporting goods, and extensive housewares; while lacking tool rental, lumber of any scale, and depth and range of contractor-grade equipment/supplies.)

By contrast, Lowe's had had HD to contend with....and dislodging and established player is a real challenge.

Like Target, I think they over-estimated their brand value in the Canadian market; and they also expanded rapidly to build national profile before discerning if they actually had the formula right to poach market share from HD or whether they could grow the total market at all.

I wouldn't say I had a negative impression of Lowe's here at all; so much as wandering through left me feeling that there wasn't much of a tangible differentiation with HD; nothing obvious to me that they did better, which makes acquiring marketshare tough.

You win over customers by either being the price-leader, or by offering a product or service the other guy doesn't have, or that you're overtly better at......

My limited encounters with Lowe's staff generally gave me the sense they were, on average, a bit less knowledgable/trained than their HD counterparts, and that's problematic if you don't have some other 'hero' feature or product category to drive sales.

We'll have to wait to see the analysis and the impacts; but I'll standby the fact that I think the anglo-Canadian footprint will end up shrinking quite a bit; but if anything remains of it, I'm not sure what the banner name will be.

The price paid for the business suggests to me, a write-off for the non-Quebec assets; but time will tell.

it will be interesting to see what happens to the lowes in maple, right at the maple go train.

 

[Admiral Beez]

CT and HD are unmitigated rubbish.

There was a time when Crappy Tire and Tim Hortons were Canadians go to place for diy and coffee. Now both are just junk. I still like Home Hardware.

 

[gabe]

Canadian Tire is always a miserable shopping experience, cluttered stores, clueless, unfriendly staff. Canadian Tire had air purifier's on sale over the summer, so i went to pick one up first thing in the morning. Site said they had 6 in stock. Show up nothing on the shelf. I asked the guy, got the "must be sold out" response. i walked around the store and found a stack of them on the floor over by the lighting department, no where near where aisle of air purifiers are of course.

Home Depot and Lowes is a mix bag, you either get the retired labourer who knows everything helping you, or get the employees who avoid eye contact and scurry away when approached.

 

[lenaitch]

Canadian Tire’s online ordering is a ridiculous shitshow. Orders made online are directed to stores and shipped from an indivual dealer rather than picked at their DC. Then of course Canadian tire’s policy of only hiring The young and the demotivated mean that they never know actually what’s in their stores. I ordered stuff on their website, and ended up being out of stock even though their website showed it in stock.

As for the buyer of Lowe’s Canada. That’s just for real estate. Those stores are gonna be knocked down and turned into condos.

Several of the retailers are like that. Online ordering is just another way to shop store stock unless perhaps the item is listed as 'online only' but even then I'm not sure. I had a need for a particular (and apparently elusive) circuit breaker. Home Depot showed one in Parry Sound that I was welcomed to have - provided I drove to Parry Sound (which I did).

A lot of the retailer's websites search functions aren't great. Either that or they are purposely pointing me to certain products. I find Canadian Tire's to be particularly egregious. And I've given up trusting any posting of 'available stock' is the number is below five.

When HD first broke into Canada, they seemed to be able to staff the floor with knowledgeable folks, but that ended year ago. Our local Rona actually hired a GC who got out of the business due to back problems and it was so refreshing. I've never dealt a lot with the contractor's desks of any of them but they had better have knowledgeable people there or the trades will walk.

 

[lenaitch]

There was a time when Crappy Tire and Tim Hortons were Canadians go to place for diy and coffee. Now both are just junk. I still like Home Hardware.

The problem I have with CT is they have grabbed the exclusive rights to what used to be reputable brands, like Noma (electrical) and Woods (outdoor/camping) and off-shored them. I haven't had much experience with Woods since it ceased to be a quality Canadian brand, but Noma stuff 'ain't what it used to be'.

 

[ShonTron]

I recently went to Canadian Tire at the Toronto Eaton Centre as their website directed me there as it had some Phillips Hue lights in stock. Upon arrival I couldn't find any and asked a salesperson for help. He told me they were "online only" and had never been sold at their store. When I said it says quite the opposite on their website and that five units should be in stock, he just shrugged his shoulders.

I really hate the Eaton Centre CT. The store no longer lets you exit to the mall; you have to exit at the corner at Bay and Dundas. They try to force you into the self checkouts. The store used to be better than average too in the first few years: clean, little clutter, people who could actually help, and not having an automotive section helped.

I went only to buy some vacuum bags and light bulbs. I had trouble with their crappy self checkouts, so a clerk ended doing it after overriding an alert. But then as I finally left with nothing in my hands except the small CT bag, a security guard stares at me, rubs his fingers together in my face and demands to inspect the bag and receipt.

I’ll never return.

 

[lenaitch]

I really hate the Eaton Centre CT. The store no longer lets you exit to the mall; you have to exit at the corner at Bay and Dundas. They try to force you into the self checkouts. The store used to be better than average too in the first few years: clean, little clutter, people who could actually help, and not having an automotive section helped.

I went only to buy some vacuum bags and light bulbs. I had trouble with their crappy self checkouts, so a clerk ended doing it after overriding an alert. But then as I finally left with nothing in my hands except the small CT bag, a security guard stares at me, rubs his fingers together in my face and demands to inspect the bag and receipt.

I’ll never return.

Interesting timing in that a bunch of us were talking the other day and concluded that nobody has ever seen a self checkout in a CT store. I'll have to pass on your observation.

Re the searching of bags and receipts, I would love to have that happen to me because I would ask to hear their grounds, remind them of the Charter and ask them if there is several thousand dollars they would like to donate to me because that's what it's going to cost them in the end. Random detention and search is not a condition of store entry and customer's rights are not the price paid for stores being too cheap to pay for staff. I heard that Walmart was getting big on it too when they were increasingly channeling people to self-checkout. They were getting called out on it but don't know if it still their practice.

 

[ShonTron]

Interesting timing in that a bunch of us were talking the other day and concluded that nobody has ever seen a self checkout in a CT store. I'll have to pass on your observation.

Re the searching of bags and receipts, I would love to have that happen to me because I would ask to hear their grounds, remind them of the Charter and ask them if there is several thousand dollars they would like to donate to me because that's what it's going to cost them in the end. Random detention and search is not a condition of store entry and customer's rights are not the price paid for stores being too cheap to pay for staff. I heard that Walmart was getting big on it too when they were increasingly channeling people to self-checkout. They were getting called out on it but don't know if it still their practice.

Read the Google reviews for the Eaton Centre store location. The clutter in the aisles and inventory just dumped randomly is as bad as Zellers in its last years.

 

[Richard White]

Read the Google reviews for the Eaton Centre store location. The clutter in the aisles and inventory just dumped randomly is as bad as Zellers in its last years.

I can see this store closing in the near future. It was great when it started out but there are far better uses for the site.

Whenever I go in there, the store it is a dive. Closing the mall entrance is stupid although that was probably a half baked attempt at loss prevention.

I honestly wonder how many customers they are losing by closing that entrance. I personally won't bother going there because I have to take the long way around to get there with the mall exit being at Yonge!

All things considered I get the orphaned store vibe. I feel like corporate has put the store to pasture expecting to divest itself in the future.

 

[Tuscani01]

I can see this store closing in the near future. It was great when it started out but there are far better uses for the site.

Whenever I go in there, the store it is a dive. Closing the mall entrance is stupid although that was probably a half baked attempt at loss prevention.

I honestly wonder how many customers they are losing by closing that entrance. I personally won't bother going there because I have to take the long way around to get there with the mall exit being at Yonge!

All things considered I get the orphaned store vibe. I feel like corporate has put the store to pasture expecting to divest itself in the future.

Corporate just spent millions on that store. The problems are entirely dealer related. Corporate wants the mall entrance and also wanted to open the entrance back up to Marks next door. The store didn’t want to.

I’m hoping a more motivated dealer comes in at some point.

 

[ShonTron]

I can see this store closing in the near future. It was great when it started out but there are far better uses for the site.

Whenever I go in there, the store it is a dive. Closing the mall entrance is stupid although that was probably a half baked attempt at loss prevention.

I honestly wonder how many customers they are losing by closing that entrance. I personally won't bother going there because I have to take the long way around to get there with the mall exit being at Yonge!

All things considered I get the orphaned store vibe. I feel like corporate has put the store to pasture expecting to divest itself in the future.

You can enter through the mall, but you have to go through the front to get hassled by the surly security guard when you leave.

Corporate just spent millions on that store. The problems are entirely dealer related. Corporate wants the mall entrance and also wanted to open the entrance back up to Marks next door. The store didn’t want to.

I’m hoping a more motivated dealer comes in at some point.

I won't return until one does. Gawd, CTC's franchise system can be awful.

 

[Richard White]

Corporate just spent millions on that store. The problems are entirely dealer related. Corporate wants the mall entrance and also wanted to open the entrance back up to Marks next door. The store didn’t want to.

I’m hoping a more motivated dealer comes in at some point.

Didn't the previous dealer retire recently?

 

[lenaitch]

Read the Google reviews for the Eaton Centre store location. The clutter in the aisles and inventory just dumped randomly is as bad as Zellers in its last years.

To be fair, inventory in (often narrow) aisles, either on display, on carts, in cage bins, etc. is a company wide problem. So is leaving lifts/ladders in the aisles.