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Vancouver Off-Topic / Current EventsThe off-topic forum for Vancouver, funnies, non-auto centered discussions, WORK SAFE. While the rules are more relaxed here, there are still rules. Please refer to sticky thread in this forum.
What's the situation in the Oil & Gas Industry so far?
I won't go too far OT, so far the actual impact has been "fairly minimal" from what I can tell… but people are very very nervous.
IMO they should be, Alberta's economic boom was never going to last forever, it was already dying off, the low price of oil just added to the fact that virtually all major projects are now either complete, or cancelled due to outrageous labor costs and low netback's.
At one time there was at least 6 multi billion dollar projects going simultaneously, now there is really only 1.5. (I'm giving Husky Sunrise half a point) Click the link below to see a pdf that lists major oilsands projects in Alberta and their current status - note that the vast majority are already operating (132) and only a small number are under construction (13, though at least three of these projects are delayed now). Interestingly, if you could find the same map for 7 years before, it would look drastically different, probably a 50/50 mix of operating and under construction, even 3 years ago it would have been about 70% operating and 30% under construction.
Outside of the oil sands, many large mining operations have either completed their initial development, or reduced spending. As the rapid growth of China/India has slowed, the demand for commodities has also contracted significantly.
Having said all that, it's funny in a way, it would only take a 3% cut in global oil supply to send prices surging North. Eventually the Saudi's will want to fatten their pockets up a bit more and will cut production, brining the price of crude back up.
Personally though, I believe that by the time oil recovers it will too late, the industrial construction industry in Canada is about to get ravaged.
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Not surprised at Sony shutting down their stores. Their in-store prices were always more expensive than those next door at BB/FS/etc and they rarely went on sale. Even price matching there was a pain in the ass. Glad I managed to use up my Sony Store GC's already.
As for Target, well... again, not surprised. My girlfriend worked there for a couple weeks after moving to a new city. Apparently the training was terrible and everything that was mentioned in that Gawker link was completely true. Tried shopping there when they first opened and even then there was a ton of empty shelves. Funny enough, I started shopping there again last week since I'm redoing all the decorations in one of my places and they have some decent stuff for not bad pricing (at least when it's on sale). Just picked up three ultra-wide metal shelving units for my garage. $30 each on sale... can't go wrong with that! Was originally eyeing the Snap-On racking on sale at Costco, but this pricing was too good to pass on.
Regarding their decision to open up all their stores at once, I get that they were trying to blitzkrieg the competition but it was (obviously) the wrong choice. They realistically should have opened up a couple dozen stores across the country and get a feel on both distribution issues and what the market demanded. I work for a multi-billion international brick and mortar company. The stores in each country used to run independently from one another (USA vs Canada vs Germany etc) and we were doing quite well. It wasn't until someone's stupid idea that Canada merge with the USA that shit started going down. We used to have one (maaaaybe two) store in every major city and everything was great. But then word came down from the American exec's that they wanted us to open up stores so that no customer would be more than fifteen minutes away from one. All it did was dilute sales from existing stores and saturate everything else. We're still opening up new stores, but I've been involved in quite a few closures of locations that never should have been built in the first place.
Target had potential, but there were lots of poor decisions such as the lacklustre launch, relying on Sobey's for their groceries, and of course the inventory issues. They had some good clearance deals, but those were only known to the diehards on RFD. By the time they started to get their act together, it was too late.
The majority of Canadians are cheap, so if you can't win on price, you better have something else such as a stellar loyalty program (e.g Shoppers Drug Mart Optimum).
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I personally liked Target for all the wrong reasons. I could shop or walk around without a crowd of people. That and the staff there do not give a shit so they leave you alone.
I wanted to wear a red polo just to fuck with people at one time. If someone came around to ask me where something was thinking I was a target employee, I would have pointed them in the exact opposite extreme of where it's at. "Oh toilet paper? It's upstairs right by the iphone cases"
I wanted to wear a red polo just to fuck with people at one time. If someone came around to ask me where something was thinking I was a target employee, I would have pointed them in the exact opposite extreme of where it's at. "Oh toilet paper? It's upstairs right by the iphone cases"
I believe cars are meant to be driven. I see zero point in having a beautiful car and never driving it. Might as well have Miranda Kerr in your bed and sleeping on the ground cause you don't want to fudge her mascara...
We go through our entire lives being told what to do every step of the way. The garage was always the one place where you could indulge in your own passion, with not a care for the outside world.
How did you accomplish such black magic? That's pretty much 70% off msrp
wonder why they lost billion?
Anyone who's crying, because they scored some killer clearance deal in the past, not because they miss the service or had great shopping experience....
How did you accomplish such black magic? That's pretty much 70% off msrp
Not sure what happened but apparently they mistakenly marked down the wrong camera at one of their locations in Toronto and I just went and price matched with a receipt at one of the Targets here :
any ideas of what will happen to the gigantic voids that will soon be in our shopping malls?
I only went to Target in Lansdowne for one purpose: to send shopping carts up and down that escalator
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they may stay empty for awhile can't imagine it'll be long though and i imagine some of the box stores may move in to some of them (future shop/best buy may move into the metro one?)
Nordstrom is up here too now but they're taking a real slow approach to expansion
Wanted to share this here, as I have worked in retail for 13 years, I can honestly say sometimes customers can be insensitive assholes, so let's remind ourselves that employees at target are still human.
On another note I'm glad I didn't take their offer 2 years ago when they opened, I got a call from their Canadian recruiter, basically without asking what I made said they will offer me a 20% increase plus match my benefits to go work for them. But luckily running a target doesn't excite me so I turned down the offer.
The news mentioned London Drugs may be interested in taking over some of the Target locations. Not sure how true that is as a lot of the Target locations in BC are really close by to an existing LD.
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and icing on the cake, lady driving a newer chrysler 200 infront of me... jumped out of her car, dropped her pants, did an immediate squat and did probably the longest public relief ever...... steam and all.
Canadian tire corporation will be looking at some of the real estate too, for its Canadian tire retail stores as well as other stores in their corporate portfolio
they may stay empty for awhile can't imagine it'll be long though and i imagine some of the box stores may move in to some of them (future shop/best buy may move into the metro one?)
that's one way for future shop to get closer to bankruptcy ..aren't they reopening in station square later this year or will the lease in that redeveloped area gonna be ridiculously $$?
1) people are naturally critical of the fact that they opened so many locations so quickly (133) without being able to scale and adapt their inventory control and logistics. The challenge was that they were in a position where they owned every single one of those leases ... their choice was sit on empty real estate and absorb the costs of the lease or push for a rapid series of NSOs to make the real estate productive as quickly as possible (not operating a location in a current leasehold = unproductive). But that said - viable retail real estate in this country was at a premium in 2010/2011 and the move to acquire the leases where HBC had been operating Zellers made a lot of sense at the time. It just meant that when they began to open the stores to the general public they needed their inventory control, merchandising, logistics, vendor agreements, etc., to be NAILED... they had no margin for error. It's one thing to operate 10 Pilot stores over 18 months and have a miss when it comes to inventory supply and replenishment ... it's another when you have 133 stores operating during the same period suffering from the same problem.
I though the stores were typically spotlessly clean, the staff helpful and friendly by retail standards and the prices were okay (they were visibly better by the current fiscal quarter).
However ... inventory replenishment was ASTONISHINGLY bad with no visible improvement until even now.
I went into the Metrotown Target a few weeks before Christmas to stock up on Christmas-themed chocolate, candy, etc... the aisles of seasonal product were located directly beside a mall entrance... they were BAREN... like NOTHING!!! London Drugs, Superstore, Shoppers, Wal-Mart were all SWIMMING in product but I really wanted to give Target the opportunity so I went to the location in Coquitlam. Not as bad but still completely terrible.... no assortment, no stock, nothing.... same for decorations.
Analysts are correct - the amount of overlap in this segment of retail is much greater in Canada than it is in the US but Target's challenges were entirely of their own making. I still believe confidently that they could have been successful here in the long-term but the financial hole they dug for themselves was simply too deep.
As for the existing leases/locations ... most will be quickly consumed by Canadian Tire, Wal-Mart, etc.
Don't expect HBC to get back into discount retail... their current strategy is to maximize and modernize their Bay brand (going very well so far) while integrating and expanding their recently-acquired Saks brand.
As a side, Nordstroms is extremely happy with their Canadian arrival so far. Entirely different segment of retail for sure, but they were afforded the opportunity to selectively pick and choose markets and locations and grow their brand slowly.
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So I went to Target at Lansdowne today to get some nacho chips that only they sell... It was fucking packed to the gills!!! Every single cashier had like a 10 person lineup and could barely move in there. I guess everyone is fishing for deals already???
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