Retailers face uncertainty in 2015

TORONTO — Canadian retailers will have tough choices to make in the new year, as increasing competition from e-merchants and new arrivals from the U.S. forces them to size up their operations. Sears’ downward trajectory doesn’t seem to be ending soon, while Target is facing calls to withdraw from its Canadian operation, according to Report on Business. The string of retailers filing for bankruptcy beginning in 2014, including Mexx and Jacob, is expected to continue, casualties of low-cost international retailers like H&M. Meanwhile, Lowe’s Canada president Sylvain Prud’homme says the company, burned by the nationalist blowback to its RONA overtures, is still open to a Canadian acquisition if the right candidate presents itself.