TORONTO — Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks took the reins of the iconic company just in time to contend with the outbreak of COVID-19, as he relates in a new interview with the Globe & Mail. Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced the closure of the province’s schools on Hicks’s first full day on the job, and just a few hours later an employee at a Toronto-area SportChek was found to have come into contact with a fellow airline passenger who had tested positive for the virus.
One of the priorities of Hicks’s tenure has been to raise the profile of Canadian Tire Corp.’s owned brands, which make up more than $4 billion in sales and more than a quarter of the CTC’s revenues. The approach to owned brands typically involves offering a “good,” “better” and “best” range in each category. In kitchenware, CTC rounded out its “good” Master Chef label with the acquisition of the “best” Paderno line in 2017, leaving a gap to be filled in the middle tier.
“We’ve been looking for a ‘better’ kitchen brand for a long time,” said Hicks.
