The Bay says it will close its flagship location on Queen Street Tuesday after leaving it open Monday, despite a provincial lockdown in effect in Toronto and Peel Region.
The Queen Street location remained fully open Monday despite orders for non-essential retailers to close their stores to in-person shopping in Toronto and Peel Region.
Toronto and Peel Region officially entered a 28-day lockdown on Monday, forcing restaurants, gyms, and non-essential stores to close to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Retailers can still offer curbside pickup and delivery and restaurants are also permitted to stay open for takeout and delivery.
Department stores across the GTA have been shuttered as part of the lockdown but a spokesperson for The Bay told Newstalk 1010 that the company’s Queen Street location downtown is allowed to stay open to customers because groceries and other “essential items” are sold inside.
“The health and well-being of customers and associates remain our top priority as we continue to provide the essential products and services Canadians need,” the spokesperson said.
“At this time, while the majority of our stores in Toronto and Peel are only offering curbside pickup, the Hudson’s Bay Queen Street location, which offers grocery among other essential items, remains open with strict protocols in place as outlined by the government.”
The company said there are enhanced cleaning protocols in place at all stores and associates must undergo full health screenings when reporting for work.
“We remain committed to ensuring a healthy environment for all,” the statement concluded.
In a further statement issued to CP24 late Monday, The Bay said it decided to leave the Queen Street location open because there is a grocery store in the basement of the eight-floor location.
“On Sunday evening, the order issued by the province changed the guidelines regulating the operation of retail stores. We reviewed closely to ensure compliance and, as such, closed all our stores in Toronto and Peel but one, which contained a grocery store,” the statement read. “We understood this to be in line with the province’s direction, however we have now made the decision to close our Queen Street store tomorrow. All Hudson’s Bay stores in Toronto and Peel will offer shoppers curbside pickup.”
Health minister’s office says store should not be open
Asked about the situation at a news conference on Monday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford said he would “have to look into it.”
Ford reiterated a call for shoppers to support small businesses during the lockdown.
“I’m doing everything we can to protect and support the small businesses out there,” Ford said.
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, said any large stores that are open would have to offer essential goods that you would find in a grocery store, pharmacy, or hardware store.
In a statement to CP24, a spokesperson for Health Minister Christine Elliott offered further clarification late Monday, noting that The Bay should not be allowing customers inside.
“The inclusion of discount and big box retailers selling groceries is intended to include retail with a full grocery store component. This would include WalMart and Costco for example, but not The Bay or IKEA,” the statement read.
“We encourage all organizations to refer to the provincial regulations to clarify impacts to their business.”
Speaking to CP24, one shopper said that when he asked staff inside The Bay about where he could find the grocery department, they told him groceries could be found in the basement at Pusateri’s.
When he told them Pusateri’s wasn’t open, he said they informed him that it would be open shortly.
“They said, ‘Oh, but we are getting them to open right away. They are restocking shelves right now. They will probably be open tomorrow,'” the shopper told CP24.
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.
