9 ms·

Sears in Canada was mostly a clothing store. 20+ years ago Sears did have more variety—tools and other products—but it was still fundamentally a clothing store.

Sears in Canada was mostly a clothing store. 20+ years ago Sears did have more variety—tools and other products—but it was still fundamentally a clothing store. In my memory, Sears was nearly identical to the Hudson's Bay Company (The Bay), and my local mall had both. Whereas Canadian Tire is first and foremost a tire store and an auto mechanic shop. The other half of the store is tools, sporting goods, household and kitchen goods, gardening tools and supplies, and a small selection of what a hardware store would have (plumbing, electrical, lighting). Canadian Tire also owns Mark's Work Wear House (now just "Mark's") that sells work clothes, and sometimes the stores are combined, but otherwise Canadian Tire doesn't sell clothes beyond some hunting and fishing gear. There's almost no overlap with Sears. Home Depot in Canada is fundamentally the same as in the US. Home Depot and Canadian Tire are very much competitors for some things.

voisin 4y ago
> Whereas Canadian Tire is first and foremost a tire store and an auto mechanic shop I disagree. They have maybe 15% of their floor space dedicated to auto. Outdoors/sporting easily has 3x the floor space of tires and vehicles. They even have tons of stores that don’t offer mechanic work at all. 85% of the store is seasonal, outdoor, home, and tools. It is more the “family all-in-one” lifestyle store now.
- frosted-flakes 4y ago
  If you count the auto mechanic shop and the parts counter as "floor space", and you should because that's a large part of Canadian Tire's business, automotive stuff is about half of the store. Most stores have an auto shop; it's only the stores in dense urban areas like downtown Toronto that don't. I've definitely spent about ten times more on automotive stuff at Canadian Tire stores over the years than I have in the rest of the store, whether that's tires, wheel alignments, alternators and other car parts, brakes, snow brushes, paint, fluids, etc.
  - voisin 4y ago
    I haven’t checked their financial statements but I bet it breaks it down roughly and I would be surprised if their average customer spends more on automotive than the rest of the store. I bet it isn’t even close in the opposite direction. Maybe I’m wrong though! I am going based on their ads that dedicate very little space to automotive versus the rest.
    - frosted-flakes 4y ago
      I dunno, their flyer always has a couple of pages for deals on brake parts and tires, although the majority of the flyer is always other products. Even so, it's probably because flyers are focused on getting customers into the store, but no one impulse buys "cheap brake pads" and "discount oil changes", so why advertise for them? Also, auto parts can generally only have deals by category since there are so many cars on the road, which means they can only use generic images and price ranges. I'm definitely not their average customer, but the average Joe that has settled on using Canadian Tire for routine car maintenance definitely spends more on automotive stuff, simply because cars are expensive to maintain. But I bet their household products are more profitable.

voisin 4y ago

> Whereas Canadian Tire is first and foremost a tire store and an auto mechanic shop I disagree. They have maybe 15% of their floor space dedicated to auto. Outdoors/sporting easily has 3x the floor space of tires and vehicles. They even have tons of stores that don’t offer mechanic work at all. 85% of the store is seasonal, outdoor, home, and tools. It is more the “family all-in-one” lifestyle store now.

frosted-flakes 4y ago
If you count the auto mechanic shop and the parts counter as "floor space", and you should because that's a large part of Canadian Tire's business, automotive stuff is about half of the store. Most stores have an auto shop; it's only the stores in dense urban areas like downtown Toronto that don't. I've definitely spent about ten times more on automotive stuff at Canadian Tire stores over the years than I have in the rest of the store, whether that's tires, wheel alignments, alternators and other car parts, brakes, snow brushes, paint, fluids, etc.
- voisin 4y ago
  I haven’t checked their financial statements but I bet it breaks it down roughly and I would be surprised if their average customer spends more on automotive than the rest of the store. I bet it isn’t even close in the opposite direction. Maybe I’m wrong though! I am going based on their ads that dedicate very little space to automotive versus the rest.
  - frosted-flakes 4y ago
    I dunno, their flyer always has a couple of pages for deals on brake parts and tires, although the majority of the flyer is always other products. Even so, it's probably because flyers are focused on getting customers into the store, but no one impulse buys "cheap brake pads" and "discount oil changes", so why advertise for them? Also, auto parts can generally only have deals by category since there are so many cars on the road, which means they can only use generic images and price ranges. I'm definitely not their average customer, but the average Joe that has settled on using Canadian Tire for routine car maintenance definitely spends more on automotive stuff, simply because cars are expensive to maintain. But I bet their household products are more profitable.