Sunday, November 22, 2015

Popeyes Louisiana Chicken & Biscuits Coming to Winnipeg


It has been on some Manitoban's list for a while of restaurants they would like to see come to Winnipeg and now it has been confirmed: A spokesmen says Popeyes Louisiana Chicken and Biscuits are in discussions for locations within the city in 2015/2017. The company has been in Canada since 1984 when they opened a location in Toronto and next to KFC has one of the most extensive network of locations around the world. However, they have never been to Winnipeg.

Popeye's was founded in Louisiana in 1972 and today is noted for a spicier Cajun fare compared to other chicken restaurants.

There has been a pull back of chicken restaurants from the Winnipeg market in recent years. Both KFC and Winnipeg-based Chicken Delight have all retrenched a bit in the Winnipeg market.

The restaurant industry is a tough market even for well known franchises. Still, we have see Five Guys, Fat Burger and Famous Dave's all set up and continue here. Woody's Southern Barbecue failed though.

Location will likely be a big factor for the success of Popeyes. The construction of Seasons of Tuxedo continues and there are over a dozen pad spaces for restaurants so it is extremely likely we will see something in the Kenaston area.

Winnipeg continues to be attractive to retailers and restaurants looking to set up in the city although the failure of Target, falling oil prices and lower dollar has made many cautious. Still, Popeyes has been in the market for some time in Canada and they seem to believe that the time is ripe.Expect to hear announcements soon!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

InPost Parcel Pick-Up Coming to Winnipeg


As many people in Winnipeg gear up for Christmas, the prospect of coming home and finding that you missed a parcel delivery becomes a regular occurrence. In some cases apartment and condo managers are now refusing to allow delivery onto the property of parcels because so many are coming in.  Many Super Mailboxes are not big enough to receive many parcels and as some people have found out, a parcel left on your doorstep can be stolen!

As many people soon find out, you have to tramp down to a place to pick up the parcel and may have to do this repeatedly.  Not all these places are 24 hours. In fact, most aren't. On occasions, some packages end up being sent back to the sender as they are not picked up in time.

It now appears that a new business to deal with the onslaught of parcel deliveries is starting to take hold. In Toronto, InPost has been setting up multiple 24 hour automated parcel pick-up places conveniently located near where people live, work, shop and go for recreation.  Pick-up is as easy as stopping at Superstore and getting your package in under a minute. Or at your local gas station.

InPost has said they are coming to Winnipeg in the next year. It is hard not to think that landlords across Canada are going to love this. It will give some a chance to earn rent from the boxes, for others it will mean no more clutter of packages piling up at their buildings and for parcel delivery services, it will be a quick way to deliver a lot of packages while making their deadlines.

Expect to see the InPost boxes in Winnipeg in the new year.