Kevin Hopkins
Do-It-Yourself: The Impacts of American Home Improvement Retailers in Canada © 2011
Ever since the turn of the 20th Century, Canadian retailers have come under threat from American retailers operating in Canada. This process, called retail internationalization, has accelerated dramatically since the late 1980s and has had a profound influence on Canada in many different ways. Canada‟s domestic home improvement retailers have come under a lot of pressure from American big-box retailers, such as The Home Depot and Lowe’s. This paper explores the impacts of American home improvement retailers in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) by analyzing number and size of stores. The findings of this paper indicate that the significant expansion of American retailers add significantly to employment levels and creates a considerable demand for retail real estate in the GTA. Canadian retailers, even though there was a brief negative impact from American retailers, have been able to adapt or restructure to maintain the viability of Canadian owned companies.