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HOURLY LABOUR
MARKET INSIGHTS
DECEMBER 2014 EDITION
HOURLY LABOUR MARKET INSIGHTS
DECEMBER 2014 EDITION
This report is primarily focused on the hourly labour market in North America, giving an overview of key trends,
insights and news articles surrounding this segment. Between September to December of 2014, retail hiring saw
a 26% increase compared to the same time period the prior year. Findings show that between this time the top 3
roles most frequently posted for were front-line supervisors, salespersons and cashiers. According to Wanted
Analytics, the top three retail companies with the highest volume of job postings between that time frame were
The Dollar General, Lowe’s and Macy’s.
Some big box retailers are looking to downsize in order to cater to limited real estate and more costly spaces in
urban areas. These retailers are tailoring their product offerings to attract urban dwellers, while some big box
retailers are choosing to keep their larger locations and allocate some of their space to complementary services.
EXPANSION
Lowe's is looking to expand Canadian
operations, first with 3 new stores to
be added to their current 37 Canadian
locations by summer 2015. Each store
will look to employ around 120
positions.
Rona is expanding their Reno-Depot
division outside of Quebec in 2015 to
Ontario and Alberta. Currently RenoDepot operates 16 stores, all within
Quebec.
Within the next year, Ikea plans to
open 10 smaller locations Canadawide in order to cater to more
condensed retail areas.
Vancouver-based women's clothing
retailer, Aritzia, is looking to expand
it's current store base with it's
largest location that opened up in
West Edmonton Mall. They are also
looking to open free-standing
stores for its TNA and Wilfred
brands.
Dollar General announced their
aggressive expansion plans in 2015
to open 730 new stores and remodel
900 existing locations.
La Maison Simons is a Quebec-based
fashion retailer planning to open 5
new locations by March 2017. Their
long term growth plans include adding
up to 20 new stores.
The American value-priced shoe
retailer, Designer Shoe Warehouse,
plans to open 4 locations in Canada
by spring 2015. Three will be in
Alberta and the fourth in Toronto.
Dogtopia, an American upscale doggy
daycare franchise, is expanding to
Canada with hopes to open 40 locations
in the next 7 years.
HOURLY LABOUR MARKET INSIGHTS
DECEMBER 2014 EDITION !
RETRACTION
Reitmans, a Canadian women's
clothing retailer, plans to close all 107
Smart Set locations over the next year
and a half. 76 stores will be converted
to other brands and 31 stores will
close.
Aeropostale will close 75 stores from
November to January 2015, with an
additional 50 to 75 locations to close
this year. The company reported
losses of $52M in their third quarter
in 2014.
Mexx is a Dutch specialty fashion
retailer with 800 stores operating
across 55 countries. All 95 Mexx
locations in Canada are set to close.
On December 19th, Mexx Canada
started their going-out-of-business
sales.
Roots Canada's last franchise
location in Charlottetown is closing.
The existing space in Charlottetown
is said to house "Cool as Moose"
another franchise clothing retailer.
ACQUISTION
The federal government approved
Burger King's acquisition of Tim
Hortons for $12.5B. However Tim
Hortons will continue to operate in
Canada as a standalone brand.
Canada's Convenience retailer,
Alimentation Couche-Tard, agreed
to acquire The Pantry for $860M.
This will add 1,512 locations to
Couche-Tard's 6,303 outlets.
American grocery retailer, Haggen,
will expand from their 18 stores to 164
stores. The acquisition growth comes
from a divestment process due to the
Albertson's and Safeway merger.
After much discussion, Bell and
Rogers agree to evenly split ownership
of Canadian mobile phone retailer
Glentel. The acquisition totaled
$670M. Glentel operates 500 outlets in
Canada and 700 in the US.
DOWNTURN
Le Chateau experienced a net loss
of $11.1M in their third quarter and
currently operates 224 locations in
Canada. In the same quarter last
year, the Montreal clothing retailer
noted a loss of $5M.
Target did not fare well during the
holiday shopping season. It posted
a $211M USD loss in Canada in
their last quarter and may result to
closing their 133 Canadian
locations.
Ebay is looking to cut around 3,000
jobs within the year. This will affect
about 10% of their core
marketplace workforce due to
adjustments in their PayPal
payment unit.
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