An Analysis of Major Retail Store Change in Canada: 2013-2018

International retail has experienced significant numbers of closures in bricks-and-mortar stores in recent years. Moreover, with substantial reporting’s on international closures, there has been a notable absence for reports on Canadian retail as a whole in relation to store closures. Therefore, this research is a location-based analysis on where retail closures are in Canada. The objectives are: (1) to examine the store changes taking place in Canada through analysis of a selected subset of retailers; (2) to assess the influence of omni channel activities on store location strategies; and (3) to discuss the implications of store change with regard to the future of physical ‘bricks-and-mortar’ retailing in Canada. This major research paper utilizes a store per capita analysis to understand where closures in retail are in relation to population markets of varying sizes. The data utilized is from the Centre for Study of Commercial Activity, consisting of every physical store location between 2013 and 2018 for a set of twelve specifically selected retailers. The results of this paper are compared between the retailers respective retail sectors and supplementary retail quadrants they were assigned to.