The stadium that is home to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers has got a new name. IG Field, the 32,000-seat stadium in Fort Garry, Man., has been renamed Princess Auto Stadium. The 10-year sponsorship is the result of a new deal between the Winnipeg Football Club and the hardware and automotive retailer. Princess Auto is headquartered in Winnipeg. It was formerly the sponsor of the pre-game tailgate party. The 11-year-old stadium is also getting new turf this year.

Hand-held scanners in warehouses are standard practice in 2024. One of the data sets they provide is, of course, employee productivity. But Amazon went too far in France in monitoring its employee activity and performance, according to the country’s data protection watchdog, CNIL. It has fined Amazon €32 million ($47 million) for “excessively intrusive” monitoring of employee scanner data.

Amazon, not surprisingly, disagreed and issued the following statement yesterday. “Warehouse management systems are industry standard and are necessary for ensuring the safety, quality, and efficiency of operations and to track the storage of inventory and processing of packages on time and in line with customer expectations.”

As we turn the page on a new year, we’ve marked down the annual Hardlines Retail Report for 2023 by 15 percent. The Retail Report is our annual deep dive into the size of the retail market for hardware and home improvement sales in Canada. In this edition, we break down the industry’s sales by province, banner, and store type, and explore topics ranging from online sales and big box strategies for growth to the importance of private labels.

Save even more with a Hardlines Premium Membership-Subscription, or by purchasing the Retail Report in a bundle with our 2023 Market Share Report. Click here for more information and to place your order!

Greater Montreal-based Distribution G.I. is the latest independent retailer to join TIMBER MART. Co-owners Alexander Ferro and Yannick Trottier launched the business in 2022 in Chambly, Que. “Our business has grown very quickly, Ferro said in a release. “In fact, we needed to move into a larger location soon after opening.” It now occupies 7,500-square-foot property, including 4,000 square feet of outdoor storage and a 3,500-sqaure-foot building that houses a showroom, office, and warehouse.

Alexandre Lafrance has joined Garant as national business development director and a member of the company’s executive committee. Lafrance brings more than two decades of experience to the roles, most recently overseeing U.S. and Canada sales at Stelpro. Previously, he was sales director for Quebec and the Maritimes in the pool and spa division of Groupe Sani Marc.

Loblaw Companies, perched atop the Canadian retail industry with an estimated 29 percent market share, announced on Jan. 17 that it would no longer offer 50 percent off perishable items (such as salads and meats) approaching their Best Before date. From now on, the company said, the discount would be 30 percent.

Consumers were outraged and the Loblaw head office in Toronto was deluged with complaints. Even worse, Loblaw Cos. took a battering on social media. The New Democratic Party’s “food price inflation critic” Alastair MacGregor wrote to the Competition Bureau urging them to open an investigation. And CARP (Canadian Association of Retired Persons) was indignant. Over the weekend, Loblaws Cos. announced that it was reverting to the 50 percent discount on soon-to-expire perishables.

Retail sales declined by 0.2 to $66.6 billion in November, StatCan reports. Sales were down in four of nine subsectors, led by decreases at food and beverage retailers, and in five provinces, with the biggest drop in Quebec. Core retail sales, which exclude fuel and automotive categories, were down 0.6 percent. LBM and garden sales amounted to $3.9 billion, down 0.1 percent from the previous month and 3.3 percent from November 2022.

Luxo Marbre welcomed Canada’s national revenue minister to its warehouse in Saint-Rémi, Que., for the announcement of $335,000 in financial support from Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.

With this repayable contribution, the agency supports upgrades to Luxo’s sub-assembly operations, which have been repatriated to Canada from China and will require digital production equipment. It will also allow Luxo to set up an innovation department and an international marketing strategy.

The new facilities are driven by Luxo’s expansion into the wholesale and kitchen wares businesses. The latter includes the Luxo Kitchen and high-end Luxo Signature lines.

For the occasion, minister Marie-Claude Bibeau represented tourism minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada. She was accompanied by local MP Brenda Shanahan and Saint-Rémi mayor Sylvie Gagnon-Breton.

(We sent this Breaking news update yesterday for free to all our contacts. Normally, Hardlines’ Premium Member-Subscribers get a jump on these up-to-the-minute updates, and the fuller coverage that follows in our Hardlines Weekly Report. If you’re not already a Member-Subscriber, click here to start a free trial today!)

The Western Retail Lumber Association’s annual Building & Hardware Showcase finished its first day yesterday at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. “It was probably our best show ever,” said Liz Kovach, president of the WRLA.

The show’s attendance was up over last year, Kovach added, despite weather challenges, especially for people flying in from British Columbia as the province was hit by a huge snow storm earlier in the week. Pre-registration reached almost 700 before the doors even opened this year, as dealers from across the West landed on Winnipeg to check out the products and services of close to 200 vendors.

Richelieu Hardware posted Q4 earnings of $29.4 million, or $0.51 per share, 36 percent below the comparable period of 2022. Sales were down by 0.8 percent to $453.7 million, the decline tempered by acquisitions. In Canada, sales fell by $2.6 million, or 4.4 percent, to $1.05 billion. On a call to analysts, CEO Richard Lord said “Richelieu is well positioned to achieve good results in 2024.”