Westsyde Home Hardware closure comes as Canadian retailers navigate mixed conditions

Westsyde Home Hardware at 3435 Westsyde Rd. in Kamloops. The neighbourhood store is reported to be closing Dec. 31.

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A longtime neighbourhood Home Hardware in Kamloops is expected to close at the end of the year, bringing attention to the mixed conditions facing Canadian-owned retailers even as many businesses report stronger sales of Canadian products.

Westsyde Home Hardware, at 3435 Westsyde Rd., is reported to be closing Dec. 31. The company's website continues to list the Westsyde location with operating hours, and City of Kamloops business records show Westsyde Home Hardware at the address since at least 2018.

The reported closure comes during a period when Canadian retailers are seeing measurable demand for domestic products, while some parts of the home-improvement market remain weaker.

Statistics Canada's second-quarter Canadian Survey on Business Conditions found 42.7 per cent of retail businesses had changed their marketing over the previous 12 months to promote Canadian products. Another 35.8 per cent of retailers reported increased sales of Canadian products over that period.

Home Hardware has a direct connection to the local-business model behind the current interest in Canadian retail. The company was founded in St. Jacobs, Ont., in 1964 after 128 independent hardware retailers purchased Hollinger Hardware Limited and created a dealer-owned organization.

Home Hardware says the model allowed independently owned stores to share purchasing, advertising, inventory and distribution services while maintaining local ownership. The network now includes more than 1,000 independently owned and operated locations across Canada.

The national retail picture, however, remains uneven.

Statistics Canada reported sales at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers were 3.7 per cent lower in June than a year earlier. After adjusting for price changes, sales volumes in that subsector were down 5.8 per cent year over year.

At the same time, June sales of hardware, tools, renovation and lawn-and-garden products across retailers were 1.6 per cent higher than a year earlier, according to Statistics Canada's Retail Commodity Survey.

The two measures track different parts of the retail market. One looks at businesses classified as building-material and garden-equipment dealers, while the other tracks sales of specific product categories across retailers. Together, they point to a market that is mixed rather than uniformly declining.

Overall Canadian retail sales rose 0.6 per cent in June and were up 2.2 per cent in the second quarter.

Businesses are also continuing to report cost pressures. Statistics Canada's third-quarter business survey found 59.8 per cent expected to face at least one cost-related obstacle. Inflation was cited by 41.6 per cent of businesses, while other concerns included recruiting skilled employees, input costs, transportation costs and insurance.

Among businesses with one to 19 employees, 64 per cent expected at least one cost-related obstacle in the second quarter. Inflation was cited by 48.7 per cent, while 27.1 per cent identified input costs and 26 per cent pointed to transportation costs.

Those national figures do not establish why Westsyde Home Hardware is expected to close, and the reason for the reported closure has not been independently established.

Home Hardware's dealer-owned structure was developed to give independent operators access to the purchasing and distribution advantages of a national network while allowing individual stores to remain locally owned. The company continues to use several retail formats, including Home Hardware stores and Home Hardware Building Centres, which carry a broader range of lumber and building materials.

The Westsyde location is listed as a Home Hardware store rather than a Building Centre.

Its reported closure comes at a time when many Canadian retailers are promoting domestic products and reporting stronger Canadian-product sales, while businesses continue to contend with operating costs and uneven spending across retail categories.

Whether those broader trends played any role in the Westsyde decision remains unconfirmed.

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