Some bicycle shops across Canada are so busy with a pandemic-triggered boom in sales and its subsequent backlog that even answering phone calls is a struggle.
At Sidesaddle Bike Shop in Vancouver, the message when a customer calls warns that the store gets more than 400 inquiries a day.
“We actually don’t even bother trying to answer the phone, which sounds like terrible customer service, but it’s just we can’t spread ourselves that thin,” owner Andrea Smith said.
Curbside Cycle in Toronto sent out an email to customers on Thursday with a plea to stop calling or emailing when waiting on a pre-sold bike.
“We need to be blunt: If you cannot be patient, then it is better you get a refund this year and wait until 2022,” the email said.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna holds a news conference at Bushtukah, an outdoor gear store, in Ottawa on March 12. Health officials in Canada have recommended outdoor activities, such as cycling, as a way to get outdoors and remain active. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Things are pedal to the metal all over the country. Whether it’s Calgary, Toronto or Halifax, bike shops are slammed, with a surge that started in March 2020 and has not let up — and a backlog that some experts say won’t be cleared up for months or even years.
Bicycles provide an outdoor activity at a time when COVID-19 travel bans and lockdowns have made staying indoors either suffocating or dangerous. Health officials have recommended outdoor activities, such as cycling, and warned of the dangers of coronavirus transmission in gyms and on public transit.
That’s provided a surge in demand for bikes. Market research firm NPD Group says Canadian numbers aren’t tracked, but in the United States, sales of bicycles increased 75 per cent in 2020 compared with a year earlier. For the first two months of 2021, the increase year over year was 130 per cent.
But there’s also a supply-side problem, including a shortage of shipping containers and understaffing along parts of the supply chain due to physical distancing to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
‘It’s pretty zany when we open’
It all adds up to an unprecedented time for Canadian cycle shops.
“Most days it’s pretty zany when we open,” said Smith, who also own a second Vancouver location, Central Valley Flat Fix.
Smith said she expects simpler bikes, like those sought by people looking for their first bicycle as an adult, to be sold out by May or June.
As for parts, she said one snag can block delivery for a whole shipment of bikes.
“We have one shipment that’s waiting entirely on left front brake levers,” Smith said, adding that it means someone who wants a custom bike might have to wait until October.
“Everything’s just very unknowable,” she said.
Price hike expected
On the production side, David Régnier-Bourque of Cycles Devinci, in Chicoutimi, Que., said the past year has been “very chaotic.”
Régnier-Bourque is the business development director with the company, which produces aluminum bike frames and also imports frames from partners worldwide. He said it takes about 150 parts to make a bicycle.
“It was definitely a huge challenge for us to source parts…. Definitely we were not able to produce at the level we would want.”
Régnier-Bourque said the market is not slowing down, and companies in Asia where parts are sourced will need to increase their production or even build new factories.
“So for the next 12 months, I don’t think that the bicycle industry is going to be able to catch up with the demand. And in more than 12 months, we’ll have to re-evaluate if the demand is as high as right now.”
He said he expects that increased demand will mean a price hike of between five and 15 per cent.
Near-empty shop ‘a little unsettling’
While the demand has left many people in the industry swamped, it’s also left some shops exposed as they wait for more inventory to arrive.
Gordon Robb, who owns MetroCycle in Toronto, says he’s received only about 20 per cent of the bicycles he’s ordered this year, but he expects more orders to arrive soon, and throughout the summer.
Gordon Robb, owner of MetroCycle in Toronto, says the shop has ‘to kind of hold on’ and ride out supply issues during the pandemic. (CBC)
“It is a little unsettling and I am a little worried, but I think we’re going to be OK,” he said. “We just have to kind of hold on.”
Spring 2023 until things return to normal
Edward Wright, vice-president for parts and accessories distributor HLC Canada, said the industry and consumers will be dealing with the turmoil caused by the pandemic for years to come.
He said he’s “fairly confident” that this time next year, a cycle shopper will have more options than they do now.
But Wright said it won’t be until the spring of 2023 “when you’d walk into a shop and experience what you would have experienced in spring 2020” — a choice of many different models and a two-week wait to get your bicycle repaired.
TORONTO – Canada Goose Holdings Inc. says it has signed a deal that will result in the creation of its first eyewear collection.
The deal announced on Thursday by the Toronto-based luxury apparel company comes in the form of an exclusive, long-term global licensing agreement with Marchon Eyewear Inc.
The terms and value of the agreement were not disclosed, but Marchon produces eyewear for brands including Lacoste, Nike, Calvin Klein, Ferragamo, Longchamp and Zeiss.
Marchon plans to roll out both sunglasses and optical wear under the Canada Goose name next spring, starting in North America.
Canada Goose says the eyewear will be sold through optical retailers, department stores, Canada Goose shops and its website.
Canada Goose CEO Dani Reiss told The Canadian Press in August that he envisioned his company eventually expanding into eyewear and luggage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Almost seven years since news broke of an alleged conspiracy to fix the price of packaged bread across Canada, the saga isn’t over: the Competition Bureau continues to investigate the companies that may have been involved, and two class-action lawsuits continue to work their way through the courts.
Here’s a timeline of key events in the bread price-fixing case.
Oct. 31, 2017: The Competition Bureau says it’s investigating allegations of bread price-fixing and that it was granted search warrants in the case. Several grocers confirm they are co-operating in the probe.
Dec. 19, 2017: Loblaw and George Weston say they participated in an “industry-wide price-fixing arrangement” to raise the price of packaged bread. The companies say they have been co-operating in the Competition Bureau’s investigation since March 2015, when they self-reported to the bureau upon discovering anti-competitive behaviour, and are receiving immunity from prosecution. They announce they are offering $25 gift cards to customers amid the ongoing investigation into alleged bread price-fixing.
Jan. 31, 2018: In court documents, the Competition Bureau says at least $1.50 was added to the price of a loaf of bread between about 2001 and 2016.
Dec. 20, 2019: A class-action lawsuit in a Quebec court against multiple grocers and food companies is certified against a number of companies allegedly involved in bread price-fixing, including Loblaw, George Weston, Metro, Sobeys, Walmart Canada, Canada Bread and Giant Tiger (which have all denied involvement, except for Loblaw and George Weston, which later settled with the plaintiffs).
Dec. 31, 2021: A class-action lawsuit in an Ontario court covering all Canadian residents except those in Quebec who bought packaged bread from a company named in the suit is certified against roughly the same group of companies.
June 21, 2023: Bakery giant Canada Bread Co. is fined $50 million after pleading guilty to four counts of price-fixing under the Competition Act as part of the Competition Bureau’s ongoing investigation.
Oct. 25 2023: Canada Bread files a statement of defence in the Ontario class action denying participating in the alleged conspiracy and saying any anti-competitive behaviour it participated in was at the direction and to the benefit of its then-majority owner Maple Leaf Foods, which is not a defendant in the case (neither is its current owner Grupo Bimbo). Maple Leaf calls Canada Bread’s accusations “baseless.”
Dec. 20, 2023: Metro files new documents in the Ontario class action accusing Loblaw and its parent company George Weston of conspiring to implicate it in the alleged scheme, denying involvement. Sobeys has made a similar claim. The two companies deny the allegations.
July 25, 2024: Loblaw and George Weston say they agreed to pay a combined $500 million to settle both the Ontario and Quebec class-action lawsuits. Loblaw’s share of the settlement includes a $96-million credit for the gift cards it gave out years earlier.
Sept. 12, 2024: Canada Bread files new documents in Ontario court as part of the class action, claiming Maple Leaf used it as a “shield” to avoid liability in the alleged scheme. Maple Leaf was a majority shareholder of Canada Bread until 2014, and the company claims it’s liable for any price-fixing activity. Maple Leaf refutes the claims.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
Companies in this story: (TSX:L, TSX:MFI, TSX:MRU, TSX:EMP.A, TSX:WN)
TORONTO – TD Bank Group, which is mired in a money laundering scandal in the U.S., says chief executive Bharat Masrani will retire next year.
Masrani, who will retire officially on April 10, 2025, says the bank’s, “anti-money laundering challenges,” took place on his watch and he takes full responsibility.
The bank named Raymond Chun, TD’s group head, Canadian personal banking, as his successor.
As part of a transition plan, Chun will become chief operating officer on Nov. 1 before taking over the top job when Masrani steps down at the bank’s annual meeting next year.
TD also announced that Riaz Ahmed, group head, wholesale banking and president and CEO of TD Securities, will retire at the end of January 2025.
TD has taken billions in charges related to ongoing U.S. investigations into the failure of its anti-money laundering program.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
