Project: Labrador City, Newfoundland. Expansion Project. 

Dealer: Chris Kondracki

Launch Date: Fall/Winter 2014 

Related Services: Store Design, Project Management and Corporate Identity 

Chris, the dealer, gained over 10, 000 sq. ft. after the Dollarama beside his store exited. I expanded high-performing categories in the retail area and gave Chris a larger warehouse. 

The store is inside the Labrador City Mall which has competitors like Walmart in the building. 

The challenge was to execute the corporate strategy in a small store with a unique shape, located in a mall. I also had to create a compelling offering to elevate the guest experience to compete with the Walmart. 

Chris flew from Labrador City to my office to discuss the plan. He came prepared with sketches of different departments. I appreciated his vision, so I did my best to incorporate his ideas while also maintaining the smart store strategy. 

My manager visited the store to take pictures of the existing concept. I reviewed sales to determine what categories I could expand and reduce. I found examples of other Canadian Tire store layouts in malls to use as references. 

The warehouse expanded over 5,000 sq ft. This helped the store with overstock and reduced the amount of clutter on the retail floor. 

I designed a custom pro shop concept with expanded fishing and hunting categories in the sports department. Firearms showcases on the high wall enable the store to merchandise more of their assortment. I worked with the warehouse planner to create a compound behind the pro shop to hold firearms and ammo. Previously, the staff had to pull hunting inventory from the other side of the store. 

Small stores have limited display space. I added an aisle of pallets to help the store feature their assortment of Christmas trees. I was also able to incorporate a run of double pallets to help merchandise products on promotion. 

To save costs, I reused existing fixtures from nearby stores that were doing a renovation. The extra money helped offset the costs of the custom fixtures used to design the pro shop concept. 

The staff and customers were delighted with the improvements. The store has been positioned for accelerated growth over a multi-year horizon.