Hardlines is keeping Canadian retailers informed on the ways COVID-19 is impacting their home improvement stores. Check back each week for an update on the latest headlines affecting home improvement retail in Canada.
Canadian Retail Sees Record Decline as Online Sales Surge
Retail sales fell for the first time in five months, StatCan reports, plunging 10 percent to $47.1 billion in March.
Renovation Market May Be Slow to Recover
Getting the renovation market back on track post-pandemic will have its challenges, says one of Canada’s top economists. Peter Norman is vice president and chief economist at Altus Group, which supplies data and advisory services to the commercial real estate industry, including builders, developers and manufacturers. The full interview is available in the Hardlines weekly newsletter. Try a month free now.
Provinces Make Progress on Economic Restart
Quebec’s hardware stores no longer have to close on Sundays beginning next weekend, an earlier-than-expected end to a measure put in place for the month of April and then extended through May.