ISIS Planned Attack - TARGET: Unnamed Canadian Mall
An NBC News report says Canadian authorities have heard would-be terrorists discussing potential ISIS-inspired "knife and gun" attacks against Canadian and US targets in Canada. The report quotes unidentified US intelligence officials. NBC says the targets were in public places and crowded streets. RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson said the force has about 63 active security investigations on 90 suspected extremists who intend to join fights abroad or who have returned to Canada. "The attitude and the policy of ISIS is not really high tech sabotage or terrorism, their position has always been to use low tech, you know someone like that going to a mall, shooting and stabbing people. It's different. It's terrorism of course, but it's terrorism diffused, low tech, a bunch of guys going to a mall and killing a handful of people and or going to another public place and hurting people. Al-Qaeda preferred the big spectacular terrorist act, a mega explosion. ISIS is much smarter because it can inspire their followers or their potential followers by simply saying do something small for the cause, go and kill somebody, go and cut somebody’s head off," he says. (Source news1130.com)

Retail giants Walmart, Sears and Lowe's are suffering in Canada - Target's Not Alone - The Canadian Squeeze  Walmart Canada Corp., Target Canada Corp., Sears Canada Inc. and Lowe's Canada - all large-format retailers with origins in the U.S. - are either posting diminishing returns or operating losses, says a new state of the retail industry report from Desjardins Securities analyst Keith Howlett. Same-store sales at Walmart Canada have declined in six of the last seven quarters, with just a 0.2% rise in the most recent quarter. Home improvement chain Lowe's has had strong recent same-store sales growth, but that's been in part due to the closure and conversion of Rona's big-box stores, and the retailer is still losing money as it heads into its eighth year of operations in Canada. In the meantime, multiple smaller Canadian chains including Reitmans Ltd., Le Chateau Inc., Danier Leather Inc. and Bikini Village Inc. have been struggling and reducing store count as they compete with stronger players such as Gap Inc., Joe Fresh and H&M. In the last two years, retailers including Best Buy and sister chain Future Shop, Toys R Us Canada, Staples and Indigo Books & Music have also closed some stores in favour of opening smaller locations and reducing overall square footage while they focus on building up their online sales channels. (Source financialpost.com)

Canadians spending across the border balloons to $8 billion in 2012 - Representing 1% to 2% of Total Canadian Retail Sales  Cross-border shopping may have soared between 2006 and 2012, according to a Statistics Canada report released Wednesday, but at least one senior Canadian economist believes the falling dollar will reverse that trend. (Source thestar.com)

Target CEO says every store in Canada needs to do better 

Canadian Tire Getting Aggressive - Goal: "Take Other People's Business" 

UK footwear retailer Clarks to grow from 13 to 50 Canadian stores

Boutique Jacob gets another court extension, seeks to survive as smaller chain 

The future of money in Canada is digital - Future of money =  digital & mobile  

Fresno man leaves resume after robbing CVS Pharmacy

Canada's "Combating Counterfeit Products Act" passes latest hurdle
Canada's Combating Counterfeit Products Act is inching closer to reality, passing its third reading in Parliament late last week. Brian Isaac, partner at Smart & Biggar Fetherstonhaugh, has welcomed the move, noting: "While some concerns have been raised regarding the provisions of Bill C-8, reform of Canada's anti-counterfeiting laws is overdue and the anti-counterfeiting community in Canada welcomes the apparent renewed interest in the issue by the government of Canada." World Trademark Review has previously reported on the bill, which was introduced in March 2013 and would amend the Copyright Act and the Trademarks Act to add new civil and criminal remedies and new border measures in both acts. Specifically, the enactment would:

Trial begins for man charged in mass shooting, double murder at Eaton Centre
The man accused of murdering two people in a mass shooting at Toronto's busy Eaton Centre is in court today facing a jury at the first day of his trial. Christopher Husbands is facing two counts of first-degree murder and five counts of aggravated assault – one for each person injured by the spray of bullets fired in the middle of the mall's crowded food court back in June 2012. One of the injured was a 13-year-old boy who was shot in the head but recovered from his wounds. A pregnant woman who was desperately trying to flee the mall after the shots rang out was trampled by the crowd. For that, the suspect is also facing one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm Husbands, who was 23 at the time the shooting took place, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and will defend his case in the coming weeks at the downtown Toronto courthouse where the trial is taking place. Husbands is also facing two multi-million dollar civil lawsuits from the families of the deceased, 22-year-old Nixon Nirmalendran and 24-year-old Ahmed Hassan. The lawsuit also names Hamilton and Toronto police, Eaton Centre owner Cadillac Fairview Corp. and the province. (Source cp24.com)

Police bust $200K shoplifting ring operating out of a few houses in Vancouver  They have recovered more than $200,000 in stolen high-end clothing. Police say at about 8 p.m. on Oct. 2 they executed a search warrant at a home on Fremlin Street near East 41 Avenue following an investigation into an organized retail crime group. They believe that the organizers contracted out retail thieves who would steal high-end clothing. Those items were then brought to that home and then organized, advertised on various Internet sites and sold on the underground black market. As many as 20 people per hour were seen coming and going from the home, with many arriving in luxury vehicles to take away their stolen bargains. Police say they will be requesting charges of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 against three people and they have also seized three vehicles believed to have been used to transport the goods. (Source globalnews.ca)


Charges laid after dramatic RCMP chase east of Swift Current, Saskatchewan  RCMP in Swift Current have laid a slew of charges against a Calgary man who allegedly led police on a high-speed chase in a stolen car. David Lee Little, 38, faces nine charges, including robbery, assault causing bodily harm, flight from police, dangerous driving and assaulting a police officer with a weapon. Mounties say a man robbed a store in Swift Current, then pulled a 77-year- old woman from her car and drove away with the vehicle Monday morning. (Source ctvnews.ca)

Halton Police arrest a Toronto man for numerous fraud-related charges
A Toronto man has been arrested for credit card fraud and mail theft, said Halton Regional Police on Monday. Investigations found fraudulent credit card applications had been completed online, using stolen personal information. After the credit cards were approved, they were mailed to the unknowing victims' addresses where they were intercepted moments after delivery. Once the credit cards were taken, they were used to buy thousands of dollars of merchandise in unauthorized credit. (Source torontoobserver.ca)

Retail Fast Facts: September 2014

Highlights:
● Total monthly retail sales changed by 6.6 per cent over the comparable month last year.
● Total sales excluding food, automotive and gasoline changed by 6.4 per cent over the comparable month last year.   (Source retailcouncil.org)