Retail & Ecommerce – Canadian Investor

Tiffany holiday sales slip as Chinese tourists spend less

January 18, 2019 CanadianInvestor

NEW YORK — Tiffany & Co. says holiday shoppers and Chinese tourists spent less on its bling. The luxury jeweler, famous for its little blue boxes, says sales slipped in the holiday shopping season as Chinese tourists spent less while travelling due to the strong dollar, making it more expensive to buy Tiffany jewelry outside of its stores in China.... Read More

Sears staves off liquidation, stores to remain open

January 16, 2019 CanadianInvestor

NEW YORK — Sears will live on— at least for now. The company’s chairman and largest shareholder, Eddie Lampert, won a bankruptcy auction for Sears, averting liquidation of the iconic chain, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The person agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiation publicly. Lampert is... Read More

Ontario’s 25 pot licence lottery winners fielding partnership offers

January 14, 2019 CanadianInvestor

TORONTO — Businesses and investors are rushing to partner with the 25 winners of the Ontario cannabis retail licence lottery, with offers apparently worth millions of dollars, to be involved in the province’s first recreational weed stores set to open this spring. Olivia Brown, the founder of Hamilton, Ont.-based Professional Cannabis Consulting, says one of her clients was among the 25 entities selected by... Read More

Pot producers face pushback over odour, smell in Ontario farming town

January 13, 2019 CanadianInvestor

PELHAM, Ont. — David Ireland is frustrated by the “skunk smell” of pot that wafts down from two cannabis cultivation facilities roughly five kilometres away and lingers outside his home, even in the winter. “On hot humid days, it’s worse because they have to vent more often … You wouldn’t be able to open your windows,” he said. The town of Pelham, Ont., where... Read More

Results of Ontario’s pot licence lottery announced; winners have 5 days to apply

January 12, 2019 CanadianInvestor

TORONTO — Ontario has announced the first 25 companies that can apply for cannabis retail licences in the province. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario says Tripsetter Inc., The Niagara Herbalist and Pure Alpha Holdings are among those that have been selected through a lottery. The agency accepted expressions of interest for the licences earlier in the week, and received more... Read More

Tiny coffeeshops help owners save on rent in high-cost Toronto, Vancouver

January 11, 2019 CanadianInvestor

VANCOUVER — Customers who don’t work in the building that houses Kento Kitayama’s tiny cafe near Vancouver’s Gastown neighbourhood better be prepared to settle for takeout. He can only take orders through a little window facing the sidewalk. Iktsuarpok Coffee Stand, which opened late last month, has no seating and sparse furnishings. Kitayama could likely stand in the middle of the roughly 17-square-metre... Read More

Shoppers-branded Botox clinics launch amid concerns of ‘cookie-cutter’ cosmetics

January 10, 2019 CanadianInvestor

TORONTO — Shoppers Drug Mart takes its most aggressive step into the beauty business this weekend with its first stand-alone clinic to offer Botox injections, fillers, laser treatments and medical-grade peels. But while the Beauty Clinic by Shoppers Drug Mart is being touted as “a natural extension” of the drugstore chain’s moves into the cosmetics space, some wary observers fear... Read More

N.B. cannabis retailer lays off staffers as ‘operational needs’ become clear

January 10, 2019 CanadianInvestor

FREDERICTON — New Brunswick’s cannabis retailer is laying off staff, saying it has a better understanding of “operational needs” three months after the historic legalization of recreational marijuana. Cannabis NB said most of the layoffs involved people with seasonal contracts, but some are part-time or full-time employees. Spokeswoman Marie-Andree Bolduc said Thursday that despite supply challenges, operations have normalized at the... Read More

Aritzia Q3 profit jumps 16 per cent amid 17th quarter of growth in same-store sales

January 9, 2019 CanadianInvestor

TORONTO — Aritzia Inc. says its first outlet boutique has been “incredibly profitable” in its first two months open, but don’t expect the womenswear retailer to push heavily into the discount space. Brian Hill, the Vancouver-based company’s chief executive officer, told analysts on a Wednesday call that the outlet Aritzia opened at the Toronto Premium Outlets mall in November has already made back... Read More

Legal pot costs $9.70 per gram versus $6.51 on illicit market: StatCan

January 9, 2019 CanadianInvestor

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says that the average price of a legal gram of recreational pot last year was $9.70, nearly 50 per cent higher than the illicit market price of $6.51. The agency says it received 385 price quotes deemed plausible using the StatsCannabis crowdsourcing application between Oct. 17, when adult-use pot became legal in Canada, and Dec. 31. It added that roughly half... Read More