T&T Supermarkets to Open in Polo Park

When EQ3 and 24/7 In Touch moved to the former Sears building after a few years of it sitting empty, there were a few spaces left within not filled. One of those spaces was eventually filled by the popular store Zara. However, one very large space was unoccupied. It was Sears basement which had at times hosted furnishing, discounted items and storage. Pick-ups came via a down ramp and you could load up your Sears Kenmore. At 265,000 square feet, the old Simpson-Sears was a monster. The total basement space was 48,000 square feet. 

I was always curious why EQ3, the Winnipeg-based store didn't take all the space of the first floor. A huge section facing towards Portage remained unfilled even as Zara opened next door. Nothing was ever announced and the focus recently has been on filling space in the mall and the disposition of The Bay. There had been rumours of a grocery store as Polo Park once sported two groceries across the hall from one another with Dominion and Loblaw's. Since Save On Foods is across the street from the mall and the biggest Safeway in the province was at Madison Square, the list of options was small.

One of the rumours was T&T Supermarkets, the B.C.-based Asian grocer, was the grocer to come to Polo Park. Certainly over 15 years of lobbying for the store to come have Tina Lee an idea that the province might be a good place to a store. Lee, daughter of the founders and one of if the Ts in T&T says that former Lieutenant Governor Philip Lee (no relation) advocated for years for a store. The T in T&T is Tiffany, Tina's sister. As Tina reveals, it was logistics and supply chain issues that made it so long in coming.

Seafood will have to be flown in and other supplies required a much bigger Ontario warehouse which the company has just built. Given the size of the Winnipeg store it will require a lot of stock. Target died in Canada because of their inventory system and stretched supply lines. It looks like T&T is getting their ducks in a row.

The store will have a hot take out area, live seafood as well as bbq section. Grocery will be include vegetables, fruit, full bakery and items for the Asian market. Non grocery items will include skincare products from Korea, China and Japan. The large Filipino will feature prominently. Nearly 70% of the products coming into Winnipeg are presently not sold here, according to the company.

The main level at the southwest corner close to Joeys will be the main entrance. It will have escalators and elevators capable of transporting carts, much like the old Polo Park Target. It is unclear how carts will be handled. The old Safeway frequently had to corral their wayward carts in mall parking. The grocery will be in the basement which has been empty since 2019.

The new grocery, like a lot of new Winnipeg investment, opens in 2028.

We Need Aldi Grocery Stores in Winnipeg

Aldi is the name of the hypermarket grocery from Germany that has transformed European and American grocery stores. A Canadian branch of the store seems as elusive as ever. Homegrown versions have not really emerged. The grocery sections of Giant Tiger and Dollarama help but they only offer so much. 

The Canadian government is seeking out discount grocers but so far seem to have had no success. The reasons are varied. One big one is that there are far more dominant grocers here and they have been found to price fix with help from suppliers such as bakeries. Dempsters was recently fined $50 million over this but it took 13 years of investigation and no further actions were contemplated. Another investigation into meat prices is underway but it is anyone's guess how long that takes. Likewise, there is an investigation about property being used to keep competitors out but if it takes a decade to decide, it doesn't encourage companies like Aldi who see the roadblocks.

Alternatively, Aldi has bought grocers in the United States including some big ones such as Winn-Dixie and Trader Joe's. In Canada, there are enormous food groups where there is very little in the way of sellers. It is quite possible that a company like Aldi might make an offer on a group like Giant Tiger.  However, they are not going to come to Canada if they feel the fix is in. Everyone is well aware of the fiasco of Target. Most of the other food ownership groups are massive. Even the Save on Foods group in the west is buying U.S. grocers so there are no easy entries for newcomers.

Corporate concentration has always been a problem in Canada but the Sobeys takeover of Safeway often left two stores of the same company across the street from one another. Not much competition if both have the same advertised sales. While some stores were forced to be sold, there were no price leaders. For example, Red River Co-Op that purchased some stores does not lead as a price leader on gas or groceries. It hopes that cash dividend is enough to attract shoppers but the starting price point can be high. Save on Foods moved into the Winnipeg area and while they offer different grocery experiences, the price point is a higher one than say Superstore or Walmart.

Some Safeways and Sobeys have become franchises of Freshco. They have owners but are part of the supply chain of Safeway/Sobeys. They can be cheaper and offer some local selection but there are not enough of them and they still remain part of large food group organizations. Likewise, No Frills are too few to really make a difference and are part of the Loblaw's/Superstore food organization. Local ownership of these stores does not make them similar to a true discount store with their own supply chain.

We actually have some locally owned stores in Winnipeg such as Foodfare and Family Foods. They fulfill important roles in having stores where others don't have them such downtowns or smaller stores than the typical Safeway and the like. Specialty stores and ethnic stores are also important in having different supply chains from Africa, Asia and Europe. Most of the small stores are simply not located where a discount store like Aldi needs them.

Aldi likes to be where the other stores are. They are not afraid of Walmart, Costco or any other grocer. They are 15% less than those grocery stores. Ideally for Aldi, they would be able to get a place in the big box store malls close other grocery retailers. The problem is as has been described by those who follow this is that big grocery groups in Canada take holding positions in real estate for these big malls and ensure that no other competitor can come to that mall. That is inherently anti-competitive and is being looked at as something that has to be remedied. But how long that takes is anyone's guess. In the U.S. I suspect the Justice and Commerce department's would be engaging anti-trust right away.

Aldi started in 1961 in Germany and actually is two different companies from two brothers who operate under same name with slightly different logos. They first opened in the U.S. in 1976 in Iowa and have been flying below the radar until recently. They are opening hundreds of stores a year in the U.S. now and have reached 2,000 stores. A typical Aldi carries mostly it's own brands. They are about 18,000 square feet and carry around 1,600 products but no fresh meat, bread of cheese. Other grocery competitors are 35,000 square feet or bigger and have 40,000 products.

Aldi does have a world rival modelled after itself and now larger world-wide. It is Lidl, also of Germany. They are rapidly expanding in the U.S. but will have a long way to go to catch up. They have as wide a reach all over the world as Aldi. Alas, Canada is not on their horizon. With a population of 41 million and growing, Canada is not a tiny market nor a mature one. There is room for a discount grocer.

Aldi started in a small state. Perhaps it is time they looked at a small province and got things started in Winnipeg.

Do Boycotts Work?

Do boycotts work? In short...yes and no.

One of the more prominent boycotts was against South Africa and apartheid. It lasted 35 years and even now, one can question whether it was effective at bringing change on the policy in 1994. To some extent, South Africa was not hobbled by the boycott. They made the change in large part because they chose to make it.

The Montgomery bus boycotts in the U.S. over Rosa Park being asked to move in a segregated bus was more effective and in 1956, the buses in this part of Alabama were integrated. Change happened quicker because of the effectiveness of the boycott and the inability of the bus company to operate with so many customers not using their service.

That is the rub of boycotts. If some people continue to do business with those being boycotted, the ability to change things diminishes. Case in point, sanctions and boycotts of Russia have not compelled them to change their ways on territorial expansion or rigging world games for their athletes. Too many have bought their oil or sold them weapons so that that the economic effect has been blunted.

This is not to say that there is no choice but to do carry on normally with organizations and countries. People make choices all the time. We just don't call it boycotts. For example, some people stop going to a store when they stop carrying the brand they like. It helps to tell a company why you are not seeing them anymore. If they stop carrying Sprite, let them know you won't be back till they do.

A boycott in Canada of Loblaw's for one month may or may not be effective if people don't know what all of the companies owned by the parent are. For example, if you don't go to Real Canadian Superstore but go to No Frills, you have failed. Some people have said straight out that while they are upset with Loblaw's, they are still cheaper than other options.

The big question is whether a boycott is to change behaviour or to just hurt sales numbers of an organization. If it is to change behaviour, it might work if everyone stays on message. In Canada, the boycott against Loblaw's has people advocating for taking things from stores which organizers do not want to associate with. If organizers meet with Loblaw's they need to focus on things like discounted items. 

Loblaw's has gotten so big that a boycott will be less effective than more timely investigations of grocers and suppliers fixing prices as we saw with bread. It took the government 13 years to fine one company $50 million. That is painfully slow. They are investigating meat now but if we go on the same timetable, it is worth it for a company to carry on like there are no consequences. Think about that every time you buy chicken, beef and pork. A boycott does little because the price is the same across different companies by design. Only government regulations can get to the bottom of it because competition doesn't exist.

Palestinian supporters have tried a BDS campaign against Israel. It stands for boycott, divest and sanctions. Three countries have taken up the cause and a few others have broken relations with Israel in last few weeks. The 20 plus year campaign though pre-supposes that only Israel is to blame for what is happening and the answer is for Jews to leave the territory. It is couched in terms of de-colonization and that Jews have no right at all to the area. They are settlers. Things quickly dissolve into anti-Semitism. Any two state thinking is dismissed. Any thinking that Hamas Palestinian leaders might try something different than pushing Jews into he sea is not accepted.

Subsequently, after 20 years plus, Palestinian BDS campaigns have been largely unsuccessful. A boycott is not going to force Israel to do anything. And it deceives people into believing that no diplomacy is needed. All that has to happen is for Israel to be abandoned for everything to be right in the world. The Palestinian/Israeli conflict will only reach some sort of outcome through negotiation. It is unlikely either side will achieve total success militarily or through sanctions and boycotts.

Presently, the Israeli government believes it can defeat Hamas completely, That seems a tough nut. The most meaningful peace agreements they have come by historically has taken great effort, timing and negotiation. And Hamas should not take comfort in their strategy with protests at campuses in North America and elsewhere. Israel will still defend itself if attacked.

So to sum up, boycotts can work if the objective is to change behaviour and the demands are focused. But much of the time demands are unfocused and angry and least of all, sympathetic. Having said that, I will shop elsewhere for the month of May than Loblaw's if no other reason than I believe they and others can do better. However, I am also pushing the federal government to not allow any more mergers that would not help consumers. I especially want the to to use the regulatory authority they already have to stop uncompetitive practices.

Mobil Gas Coming to Winnipeg

Well, not just to Winnipeg but all across Canada.

It was announced that Loblaw's, the parent company of Real Canadian Superstore and various offshoots like Real Canadian Wholesale and others, has sold all their gas stations, convenience stores and carwashes to Brookfield Business Partners LP. The total number of stations will be 213 of which several are in Winnipeg.

Imperial Oil Ltd has partnered with Brookfield to bring the Mobil brand to Canada through Exxon Mobil Corp. of the United States. Expect the re-flagging to take place over the next several months. The sales nets $540 million for Loblaw's and does not include any refineries.

The deal comes on the heels this week that all of Chevron's gas stations and refinery in Canada which are located in British Columbia have been sold to Red Deer, Alberta-based Parkland for $1.5 billion. This will make Parkland Canada's biggest gas retailer. Parkland owns assets in Manitoba through the purchase of the Pioneer gas stations in 2014 outside Winnipeg.

Last year in Winnipeg, 9 Safeway gas stations were converted to Shell stations.

The Manitoba market will likely see no benefit from the name change. It is the lack of competing refineries that mostly has an impact on prices. The only thing that can push price is aggressive grocery store cross promotion with gas purchase but has limits.

Mobil is one of the more American brands in terms of being recognized. Look for them coming soon to a Superstore near you in months to come.

Real Canadian Superstore Click and Collect

This will be the second attempt at e-commerce and groceries in the last 25 years by a major grocer. The first attempt failed on poor technology and delivery services were just not at a level that inspired confidence or popularity. It took this long to try it again.

Loblaw's, owner of Real Canadian Superstore, makes Manitoba their 4th province to adopt the Click and Collect program of shopping. The service starts Superstore Portage Avenue location and Superstore Bison Drive location this week. They will the 60th and 61st locations across Canada to offer online shopping and pick-up. Superstore Sargent Avenue and Superstore McPhillips Street location next week.

To use the program, as customer will access the 20,000 item website and fill out their grocery order and then send in. They will have access to all the specials, discounts and other offers of the day. Once the order was sent, 10-12 personal shoppers who fill the order which includes being very picky over produce. They have a scanner that tracks their time since they have to have it all available for a pick-up with an estimated price and two hour window.

The customer arrives to a reserved parking area out front of the store. Sadly, you have to go inside to pay at this stage and a average of $3 to $5 service charge on top of your total grocery purchase is added. After that, the items can be taken to your car by yourself or by staff.

There will be unlikely any delivery service since it would require vehicles capable of keeping food cold and fresh.

Superstore is not the only company out there offering online shopping but with their participation, competition will be strong across the city. For many people, this could be a real time saver for a minimum charge. The bricks and mortar stores face huge competition from Amazon and this seems to be their answer in challenging that.

Goodlife Fitness Coming to Grant Park Shopping Center

In 2015, Goodlife Fitness indicated an interest in all of the Targets that were closing in Canada. Some scoffed at this without realizing how many former Eaton's locations had been taken over by the national gym many years back. Still, at least in Manitoba, the pursuit of four fair sized locations seemed a longshot for a variety of reasons due to size or location.

Grant Park just north of future transit station. High traffic area coming soon

There has been no official announcement but it has been confirmed by sources in the real estate world that Goodlife is about to occupy one of the old Targets. That location is the Grant Parking Shopping Center.

At first it was thought that Canadian Tire would occupy the whole location. However, the renovations underway reveal that the retailer has taken 86,000 square feet of the old space. The part that is left is still a massive 34,000 square feet section immediately behind Pony Coral.

The map included shows how Canadian Tire will share the space with Goodlife. At 34,000 square feet, it will easily be the biggest location in the city surpassing Kenaston

Canadian Tire opens July 1st and Goodlife Fitness, if all the rumours are true, looks to be in the next several months.

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.

Goodlife Fitness Coming to St. James

3193 Portage Avenue Superstore

Goodlife Fitness continues their expansion in Canada which has taken them coast to coast and made them the largest fitness company in Canada.

They have been looking at expanding in several parts of the city only to be thwarted by the lack of ideal space or bigger retail giants swooping in and grabbing spots. When Target shut down, Goodlife put in an offer on many of the properties only to be re-buffed. In Winnipeg, Target Grant Park went to Canadian Tire, Southdale Target went to Walmart and Target Polo Park went to owners of Polo Park. Kildonan remains unclaimed but Goodlife is already just down the street from there.

A number of weeks ago, Goodlife listed the latest place for their expansion in Winnipeg and it is in St. James.  The address they listed is 3193 Portage Avenue which is home to Real Canadian Superstore.

Goodlife and Superstore are old friends. In Winnipeg, the first two Goodlife Women's Only gyms were set up in or on Superstore properties on McPhillips and in Sargent down from Polo Park. Those clubs remain with the company today.

The Superstore in St. James on Polo Park is an odd duck. It is one of a very few Superstores with an underground parking lot on Canada. Built in 1989 for around $10 million, the company initially tried to buy an abandoned adjacent school site of the St. James school division but were re-buffed. They went ahead anyways and built a heated parkade instead and found success as one of the first large sized stores in the 250,000 square foot range in the west end of the city.

Site of Goodlife Expansion?

The old school site did eventually get sold and developed and on the corner facing Portage is a Crosstown Credit Union. At the back of the site now is a condo. In between the space as seen above is a space listed for development and could accommodate a 20,000 square foot building. This is the exact size Goodlife needs for a co-ed gym.

There is already a Shapes Women's gym and a Y on west Portage but they do serve different crowds. The construction of a new co-ed fitness center right in the middle of neighbourhood on the south side is likely to be very welcome.

I am not entirely sure of the logistics of the project that will be complete next year. The configuration of the parking lot will be interesting. Look to see zoning plans for it soon!

Canadian Tire to Take Over Grant Park Target Location

It was not unexpected. Canadian Tire is taking over a number of leases of old Targets across Canada. In Winnipeg there was really only one location that made sense and that was Grant Park Mall. All of the other Targets simply had a Canadian Tire already very close by as was mentioned on this blog.

Target did a fair sized expansion and work inside the Grant Park location before they moved in. Canadian Tire could benefit from the bigger footprint the store has now. To suit the needs of automotive repair, work will need to be done on the east side of the building.

Millions of dollars of improvements have been done on the Grant Park Mall over the last three years. Much of this had been triggered by Target's arrival. The Liquor Mart and Shppper's Drug mart all invested heavily and many other changes took place in the mall as well including movie theatre renovations. Like many landlords, Grant Park was probably stunned at how poor a performer Target was and how they quit the country two years after coming.

It will all work out in the end. Canadian Tire coming to Grant Park Mall makes more sense than almost any other retailer. The Canadian owned store has managed to be profitable even with big U.S. outfits moving in. Canadian Tire Polo Park is successful as is the Kenaston Canadian Tire. If anything the Grant Park location fills a geographic gap for shoppers looking for automotive stuff, sporting good, some small do it yourself items and the whole other range of products the store carries

There were complaints by some that the old Zellers locations were poor places for Target to succeed. Maybe so but Walmart started out at Grant Park in 1994 and used it as a springboard to Kenaston in 2000. I was excited as anyone when Target came. As with most, I was familiar with their brand from shopping in the States. We really never got what we saw in the States. And Canadians were told not to expect it either. Target Canada was specific to this market and was competing against Superstore and Walmart. In that they failed as well in terms of price, selection and keeping the shelves stocked. Business schools will be writing about Target's failure for years to come. Instead, the carcass will be picked over by others such as Canadian Tire.

It is hard to say how long it will take Canadian Tire to set up shop at Grant Park. It really depends on how many they have to shape it to the store needs. At the very least it stands to reason that six months is not unreasonable but it could be early 2016 before the store is ready.

This won't be the last announcement of what happens with old Target locations. Polo Park remains very attractive to several parties. Southdale might have more troubles but we'll see. I suspect the Target on Regent might have a few interested in it as well. All in all though, we have seen troubled retailers like Blockbuster, Linens and Things And Sears all have their properties snapped up. Add Zellers to the mix when Target took over their leases.

Grant Park Mall has probably found the perfect large size store after so long. What's more is that after their extensive renovations, they are well positioned to capture more of the market in the dense area around Grant Park.

Treehouse, Bulk Barn Locate to Old Video Stores

Rogers Video old location Kenaston Village

Blockbuster Video old location Portage Avenue

Many of the old Rogers Video and Blockbuster Video locations were picked up quickly by retailers as well as Snap Fitness.

There were a few larger locations or awkward locations that have been waiting some time to be filled.

In quick succession, two old old video store locations have found tenants.

The large Rogers Video location in Kenaston Village Mall is soon to be a location for Bulk Barn. It is sort of full circle for that space as it one held a grocery store. I believe it was a Family Fare which held its own for many years against its larger rival across the street due to a strong Sunday traffic. That end when Superstore was not allowed to open Sundays.

Eventually, once that exclusive day was gone, the store closed and a renovation and expansion put a Giselle's in place. Giselle's is gone as well from Winnipeg and what has replaced it is the First Glace Aesthetic Clinic.

The old Rogers was fairly sizable and Bulk Barn will have a roomy space appreciated by those who might want to combine their Superstore, Harvest Bread and bulk shopping.

One last note on Kenaston Village Mall is the new arrival Papa Murphy's in the old Academy Florist location. The take and bake pizza restaurant now has two locations in the city.

The old Blockbuster location in a former store on Portage Avenue near Deer Lodge Hospital is another large and somewhat awkward location. Despite having parking, the space has sat empty till now. No longer. Treehouse Furniture has moved their location on St. James Avenue in the Polo Park area to this building.

Treehouse Furniture probably will benefit from cheaper rent and to be honest, better recognition from the street.

It has taken a while but nearly everyone of the old Rogers and Blockbuster have been re-tasked and in the end, some of what has gone up instead has been quite excellent.

Why is Target Failing in Canada?

Target has not even been in Canada for that long and it is already pulling in satisfaction numbers that are below industry standards. Heck, even Zellers probably did better.

Costco tops the Forum Research poll that came out this week for Canada and retailers.

The list ran this order:

Not very good numbers.

Now this list is for those people who have been to the stores in Canada since they have opened.

So what accounts for the dissatisfaction? The details are a bit sketchy but in a nutshell people are no doubt comparing Target USA with Target Canada and finding it wanting. Even more troubling for Target in Canada is the fact that their numbers are dropping. A previous poll found higher numbers than they have now.

It is no easy task to create a new national store with 124 stores, three distribution centers. They certainly can't blame Zellers staff since they only retained 1% of them.

In Winnipeg, we have one major Target renovation of the old Zellers at Grant Park underway and new construction of the the Super Target at old Canad Inn Stadium site at Polo Park. Quite simply, a lot of Winnipeg does not have a really local Target yet. There are no Targets in west Winnipeg. Many people in the city have not been to the ones open yet.

Analysts are saying that Target needs to do well with their grocery so that they get more regular visits. Walmart has recently upgraded its grocery sections to counter Target and Loblaw's/Real Canadian Superstores.

Loblaw's is set to buy Shopper's Drug Mart and Sobey's is buying Safeway.

And there is Target will sub-par numbers for satisfied customers.

What is the solution? Price and selection and location, location, location.

Can Target do it? Well, they have had a reputation for being a tough competitor. Most Canadians won't give up on them yet but they are showing dissatisfaction now.

Redbox and Coinstar in Canada, Scotiabank ATMs in 7/Eleven

It is surprising that no mention is being made of a significant change in ATMs at 7/Eleven. They were the exclusive domain of CIBC but now Scotiabank machines are being moved in coast to coast. Now, normally this would not seem a big deal but the fact of the matter was the CIBC ATMs doubled for President's Choice bank from Superstore.

Score one for Scotiabank but fewer choices for those with PC or CIBC cards.

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In the last several weeks, Coinstar has been moving their machines into Safeway. It is a coin counter that charges just under 12% to process your collection.

Now if this seems steep, look at this from the U.S. page of the company and not the Canadian page:

 For Coins to Cash™ service, we charge an 9.8% processing fee in the United States, a 11.9% processing fee in Canada, and a 8.9% processing fee in the U.K. Some retailers or financial institutions may choose to subsidize this fee. Coin counting is free in select regions of the U.S. if you convert your change to a nationally-branded gift card or eCertificate.

Holy high interest rate there, Robin!!

No option for free in Canada, no subsidy from retailers in Canada and no gift cards either. What a racket. With 600 machines in Canada, you figure that somehow they could get sponsors to make this free and at least put gift cards in place.

Just another example of Canada seems to be gouged on price of services and goods.

Safeway seems to have scored a deal though. In addition, DVDPlay is being yanked out of Safeways in favour of Redbox DVD which Coinstar owns.

Redbox charges 50 cents higher in Canada than the U.S.

The hits keep on coming. It remains to be seen whether the selection is better in Redbox than DVD play.

The aftermath of Rogers and Blockbuster closing continue to be felt.

Walmart Supercenters Come to Winnipeg

It was inevitable once that Target made its announcement that Walmart would have to respond and fast. The supercenter format that they have only really used in Ontario so far will be unrolled to the rest of the country, Manitoba and Quebec first.

There will be some cheering this move while others will be horrified.

Competitive retailing should always be applauded. The winner is the consumer. What would the The Bay been without Eaton's over the years? Price and product were competed for by those department stores at every turn. Canadian consumers benefited.

When Walmart bought the tired Woolco stores in Canada, they created a competition on price on a wide variety of products. However, it has taken more than ten years for that competition to fully encompass food. Real Canadian Superstore has had a long time to get ready for this move. Safeway has taken a while longer to realize that price and size of their stores have to improve or they will lose market.

Few people remember that Grand Forks, North Dakota had an Albertson's grocery store in the Columbia Mall parking lot but that small format lost favour with the arrival of Walmart in that community.

Walmart and Target are going to battle it out as they do all over the U.S. and only nimble Canadian companies will do well against them. And yes, it is possible to succeed even with that competition. If we look once more to Grand Forks, we see local and regional groceries holding their own such as Hugo's and Super One Foods.

Cheers to the competition we can expect in the next while on price and product.

Okay, so now that we are done cheering, let's address the horrors aspect that other people are likely to focus on.

Some of the biggest complaints will be how the large size of the stores contributes to sprawl. From a local perspective this is starting to be a big problem as municipal services are continued to be stretched to the limit. The lower prices at these superstores has to be measured against how much extra tax might end up being paid to pay for roads. I don't know that we have ever really addressed in a meaningful way.

Still, the emergence of the superstores in Winnipeg appears to be more of an expansion of the footprint of the stores rather than a move to further out into the suburbs.

While the issue of sprawl and Walmart cannot be denied, the expansion of the present stores is a harder case to hang one's hat in opposition.

Generally, the arguments against Walmart supercenters is a more generalized one. The issue of employment standards, foreign products, quality and the like is where some naysayers have legitimate arguments.

Choice and price usually rule the day in Canada.

The battle of sprawl will part of a larger debate on car culture and land use that Canadians will only confront when costs become to difficult to ignore.

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As an add on, the Free Press reported that a company in Canada plans a factory outlet mall for the city. The story falls slightly short of an announcement that shovels are in the ground.

The factory outlet concept in the U.S. often places these mall outside a large city. One example is Albertville in Minnesota.

A few locations were mentioned within city limits for this development. I wouldn't be surprised if this mall is developed outside the city in a place such as Headingley.

If such a mall is to be built, it hard to argue that outside city limits would be better for Winnipeg.