7-Eleven’s new plan to sell wine and beer at several Ontario stores is raising both eyebrows and concern in the business community.
Already struggling with COVID-19 restrictions, Ontario bars and restaurants may soon be facing new competition from a powerful, multinational chain of convenience stores.
That’s right: it will be restaurants and bars competing with 7-Eleven if its applications are successful.
The company is applying for licences to sell beer and wine for in-store consumption only. Corner store alcohol sales remain prohibited in Ontario.
“To complement our fresh food and hot food programs, we are preparing for in-store service of a small selection of Ontario-made beer and wine products, offered during limited hours, and in designated consumption areas of our stores,” a statement from 7-Eleven Canada reads.
It’s seeking liquor licences for 61 Ontario locations, including 14 stores in Toronto. The company says all staff handling wine and beer would be trained under Smart Serve — a provincially approved program that teaches employees how to serve alcohol responsibly.
‘Play by the rules,’ restaurant association urges
With many small businesses trying to recover from pandemic restrictions, Tony Elenis, president & CEO of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, says this is “not the best climate to start bringing in competition.”
But aside from the timing, Elenis says there’s nothing wrong with the plan if it’s fairly regulated by the government.
“As long as they play by the rules. They have to follow the health, labour and building rules associated with opening a restaurant,” he said.
“It can’t just be a side gig they’re using as an opportunity to sell booze,” he added.
7-Eleven’s fresh and hot food offerings include pizza, fried chicken and hot dogs.
Won’t lead to corner store sales: government source
While the details on what the “designated consumption areas” will look like are still unclear, physical changes will have to be made to the stores for the applications to succeed.
“For these locations, a space must be created for the sale, service and consumption of alcohol with food inside the store,” said Raymond Kahnert, a senior adviser with the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The AGCO is reviewing 7-Eleven’s applications.
Government officials are stressing that the applications are for restaurant-style alcohol sales, not retail.
7-Eleven Canada has applied for liquor licences at 61 Ontario locations. The stores would sell beer and wine for in-store consumption, not takeout. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images)
The stores would not be eligible for beer and wine takeout, a privilege granted to restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic, and later made permanent. It requires food preparation and sales to be the primary function of an establishment, as it is with restaurants.
“This is not going to open the floodgates to beer in convenience stores,” a senior government source said.
Premier Doug Ford has repeated his commitment to extending wine and beer sales to corner stores. The 7-Eleven statement says its current applications are “in preparation” for that change.
Could other stores follow?
Ryan Mallough, Ontario director of provincial affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, says many small business owners will be watching the situation closely, as it calls into question what government regulators consider a restaurant and a meal.
“I will say it is a very novel approach,” Mallough said in an interview.
Convenience store owners will be watching with particular interest, Mallough says, perhaps with an eye to following 7-Eleven’s lead to serving in-store food and alcohol consumption.
“They are big proponents of expanding liquor sales. I think if they see 7-Eleven be successful on this side, you may see other convenience stores look at this as an avenue into that space,” Mallough said.
Many 7-Eleven locations have the benefit of relatively larger buildings that can accommodate a bar or seating area. But Mallough says if there’s a business case, even smaller stores could adapt. He points to expanded patio programs, such as Toronto’s CafeTO, that allowed restaurants to use streets and sidewalks during the pandemic.
“A lot of convenience stores are in areas where they may have some sidewalk space or a lane that can be converted into a patio,” he said.
Concerns about impaired driving
Many 7-Eleven locations also operate gas bars, so road safety advocates have concerns about those same locations also serving alcohol.
All three of the Mississauga locations for which the company is seeking liquor licenses also sell gas.
“Most licensed establishments aren’t attached to a gas station,” Mothers Against Drunk Driving CEO Andrew Murie said in an interview.
Murie worries about drivers walking into a 7-Eleven to pay for gas and then having a drink while they’re at it, although he’s comforted by the fact that employees will be trained.
As well, Murie says Ontario police do a good job of tracking where impaired drivers had their drinks, so 7-Eleven should be mindful.
“They’re in our communities,” Murie said.
“If they’re going to do this, they’ll have to be good corporate citizens.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
