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Amazon launches Canada's biggest toy store
Amazon.ca announced today it has begun selling more than
300,000 toys in its online store. Amazon.com is being blamed
in part for the decline in fortunes of big box retailer Toys
R Us in the U.S., which recently reported a first-quarter
loss of $111-million (U.S.). (Source
thestar.com)
Canadian retailer Rona closing 11 stores due to
restructuring; move will save over $70 million. Canadian
home improvement retailer Rona Inc. is closing 11
non-profitable stores as part of a broader restructuring
plan. Rona will also reduce administrative, marketing,
merchandising and distribution expenses and eliminate 125
administrative jobs. In February 2013, Rona cut 200 jobs.
Rona rejected an unsolicited $1.72 billion USD buyout offer
from Lowe’s in August 2012. (Source
bloomberg.com)
Hershey pays $4M fine for chocolate price-fixing
US candy maker Hershey on Friday pleaded guilty to
participating in a chocolate price-fixing scheme and paid a
CAN$4 million (US$3.8 million) fine. Earlier this month,
Canadian authorities also charged Nestle, Mars and a network
of independent wholesale distributors in the case after a
whistle-blower tipped authorities to the scheme. Three
individuals were also charged: Robert Leonidas, former
president of Nestle Canada; Sandra Martinez, former
president of Confectionery for Nestle Canada; and David
Glenn Stevens, head of Canadian food distributor ITWAL.
Hershey said previously that the scheme was limited to the
Canadian marketplace, and involved, in 2007, executives that
were no longer with the Pennsylvania-based company.
(Source
foxnews.com)
 National Household Survey: Retail clerk is Canada’s most
common job The sales clerk is the most common job in Canada, according
to newly released data from Statistics Canada’s National
Household Survey. In 2011, retail boasted 1.9 million
workers, representing 11.5 per cent of the country’s
workforce. Almost one in five workers was aged 55 and over.
Education brings work. The employment rate for those with
university credentials was 81.6 per cent compared to 55.8
per cent for those with no certificate, diploma or degree.
(Source
thestar.com) (Source
cbc.ca)
Canadian women studying more, still earning less
Canadian women are gaining ground at school, but remain
stuck when it comes to employment equity. For the first
time, females outshone their male counterparts overall in
educational attainment. But their earning power still lags
far behind. As statistics obtained by Global News indicate,
more than 80 per cent of women in dual-income households
still earn less than their husbands. And households where
women are the primary breadwinners are also poorer than
those where men earn more – incomes averaging $105,1000
compared to $118,000. And women are still earning less
overall: Full-time, full-year workers earned an average of
$47,300 in 2010, compared with $64,200 for men.
(Source
globalnews.ca)
Barrie, Ontario, police officer guilty of beating man at
mall, fabricating evidence A conviction against a police officer who viciously beat a
man at a shopping mall and then tried to frame him came as a
relief and vindication, the victim said after Friday's
guilty verdict. Const. Jason Nevill was convicted of assault
causing bodily harm, obstruction of justice and fabricating
evidence against Jason Stern. The officer initially
maintained that Stern, now 28, was intoxicated and had
attacked him with intent to resist arrest at a mall in
November 2010. However, charges against Stern were dropped
after video surveillance emerged showing the officer
attacking him without provocation, and beating him even
after handcuffing him, leaving a pool of blood on the floor.
The incident occurred at the mall after Stern's friend broke
a Christmas ornament. Stern is suing Nevill and the mall for
$1 million, the two security guards, the security company,
the City of Barrie and the Barrie Police Service arguing he
sustained permanent physical and emotional injuries from the
beating. (Source
ctvnews.ca)
Retail Fast Fact: June 2013 - Provided by the Retail Council
of Canada
Total monthly retail sales changed by +4.3 per cent over the
comparable month last year.
Total sales excluding food, automotive and gasoline changed
by +2.7 per cent over the comparable month last year.
(Source
retailcouncil.org)
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