ttinpo: shop around

This post is the first of potentially many in this category: the TTINPO, or Top Ten In No Particular Order.  The first TTINPO list talks about the top ten retail flops in Ontario - in no particular order:

MAXI & CO.
Provigo had some presence in Ontario in the 1990s, but it was, for the most part, a bust.  Their superstore/hypermarket format was meant more for its home territory of Quebec, and was not successful with its little handful of stores in the GTA, so the non-QC stores were closed.  Today, Maxi & Cie. is part of Loblaws and remains a successful chain in La Belle Province.

SUPER CENTRE
We're all familiar with the Real Canadian Superstore, and Western Canadians love the Superstore, but for a short time in the 90s, a few cities in Southern Ontario were home to Loblaws' "The Super Centre", Ontario's predecessor to the Superstore.  The small group of hypermarkets went kaput in the mid-90s, with most of the stores shrinking and taking on other Loblaw banners.

ZELLERS "MORE"
As if Club Z wasn't enough... I believe the way the MORE program worked was you'd have that card scanned/swiped upon every purchase, and after a while, you'd receive so much in gift certificates or some other form of scrip redeemable at Zellers.  MORE was turfed about the mid-late 1990s, when the HBC Credit Card program was introduced.  Let's hope, when Target takes over, the two-card requirement is eliminated.

MAXI DRUG
No relation to Maxi & Co., but a very similar story.  In short, another case of a Quebec-based company flopping in Ontario.  The Jean Coutu Group is one of Quebec's largest pharmacy chains, if not *the* largest.  About 1990 or so, the company opened up a bunch of stores in Ontario dubbed Maxi Drug... they didn't last more than a few years and were divided among Shoppers Drug Mart and Rexall.  Jean Coutu still has a small presence in Eastern Ontario, with a few stores in Franco-Ontarian areas near the Quebec border, most notably Cornwall, Hawkesbury and Rockland.

AIR MILES AT FOOD CITY
This didn't last long... Food City was probably the first supermarket chain in Ontario to be an Air Miles sponsor, this being when the program was still very young in Canada.  For whatever reason, possibly the lack of standard point-of-sale equipment among its stores, Food City was no longer an Air Miles sponsor, and A&P eventually picked it up.  This leads us to...

A&P SUPER SAVER
If I'm not mistaken, A&P Canada was one of the first in Ontario to adopt an electronic customer loyalty program.  The Super Saver program (also known under another name at its Miracle Food Mart and Ultra-Mart stores) was a classic case of two-tiered pricing: those with the Super Saver card - and had it scanned at the beginning of the checkout process - paid the lower of two advertised/shelf prices, and their purchases were logged.  Super Saver gave A&P a bad name for many years, due to the non-card prices being (or appearing to be) far higher than other stores... $5.50 for a bag of milk, anyone?  Fortunately the Super Saver card and the two-tiered pricing were dropped when A&P took over Air Miles grocery sponsorship in Ontario.

SAM'S CLUB
Nobody's perfect, even the world's largest retailer.  This time, we're not talking about the many reasons why people hate Walmart, but the fact that their warehouse club was a failure in Ontario.  Sam's Club is still at it in the States against other members-only wholesalers like Costco and BJ's, but the six Canadian warehouses were shuttered only a few years after their mid-2000s opening, leaving the market-leading Costco as the only known warehouse club in the country.  The Canadian Sam's Club locations are all, at last check, still vacant.

BOOTS
Quebec-based companies aren't the only ones with failed attempts to branch out into Ontario... the British have had at least two chains come and go in Canada.  Boots is one of the largest pharmacy - er, chemist - chains in the UK, though it hung around here for a little over ten years... the only Canadian store I ever remember seeing was at Barrie's Georgian Mall, inside the mall's south wing which was added in the early 1980s or so.  Boots left Canada by 1990, with some of the stores becoming Pharma Plus locations.

MARKS & SPENCER
Like Boots, M&S wasn't quite the same in Canada as it was in the UK.  Stores were smaller, didn't have as much selection, and didn't have much of a customer base beyond seniors and ex-pats.  "Marks & Sparks" gradually shut down its Canadian stores through the latter part of the 1990s.  I'd seen M&S not only at Georgian Mall, but also in a couple of other places... I think somewhere in Ottawa was one of them.

HEALTH SENSE
This was an interesting concept, but ultimately it was a flop.  Pharma Plus revamped some of its stores, shifting from the typical cold, sterile pharmacy feel to something more relaxing, focusing on wellness.  It wasn't that successful, so most of the stores were once again retooled.  Fortunately Rexall's "new concept" stores that were rolled out in the 2000s were more successful.  The only Health Sense location I ever saw was at Lindsay Square.

Can you think of any major retail flops in Ontario or Canada?  Feel free to post a comment!

we've got to start

One reason I use Google Earth, among many others, is to spot various broadcast transmitter sites and other broadcast-related structures.  Until recently, there was one transmitter site that had eluded me, as it hasn't been in operation for at least 20 years, but I think I've finally found it: the old Global TV Ch. 22 site near Uxbridge.

Global's Uxbridge transmitter was one of the network's "original six" signals from its 1974 launch, and its five million watt signal from up in the Oak Ridges Moraine south of Uxbridge was, at one point, the most powerful UHF TV signal in Canada!  Ch. 22 signed off about 1988, when Global turned on its current Toronto transmitter, Ch. 41 at the CN Tower.  When I read the history of the old Ch. 22 at the Canadian Communications Foundation website, I thought the whole transmitter site had been destroyed and the tower taken down once 22 was shut off.  Not true, as far as I know!

I was recently skimming through some Industry Canada broadcasting databases, and from what I can tell, there is a satellite radio (i.e. XM, Sirius) repeater registered as being in Uxbridge.  I grabbed the coordinates (44-01-55 N, 79-08-11 W - Industry Canada uses degrees-minutes-seconds), plugged them into Google Earth, and the latitude/longitude brought me to a tower on Old Brock Road, about a mile south of Coppin's Corners.  Even better, a Google Street View car went past the site!  Looking at the transmitter building on the aerial photo and the tower in Street View, I knew this *had* to be the old Ch. 22 site.  The transmitter building looked way too big for non-broadcast stuff, and the top of the 400-something-foot tower looked like a TV antenna used to be there.  Take a peek for yourself - if the above coordinates don't mean anything to you, search for 3740 Old Brock Road, Uxbridge, and Google will take you there.

Also, if you haven't already noticed, all of my blog posts' titles are song titles.  This post's title is what I believe was the name of the Tommy Ambrose tune Global played at sign-on and sign-off in the 1970s and 80s.

57 channels (and nothin' on)

It's become a sort of lost art in broadcasting, specifically television, although the practice briefly resurfaced during the U.S. DTV transition in 2009, and there's a possibility the same may happen in Canada this year, assuming our own DTV transition goes ahead as planned this August.

I'm talking about the art of the sign-off and sign-on.  Very few over-the-air (OTA) TV stations still do this today, but it wasn't really that long ago that just about everybody on the dial would shut down for at least a little while in the late night/early morning hours.

For you young'uns who have never known a television landscape other than today's 24/7/365 (including infomercials) programming world, your local TV station would usually shut down anytime from about midnight to 2 a.m., then come back on the air around 6 a.m.  The last show of the night was most often a movie or The Tonight Show.  Following the last program, some stations would air a sermonette and/or a quick set of news headlines read over a still image.  In just about all instances of signing off was the sign-off announcement - every station rolled its own.  The sign-off announcement usually consisted not only of the notification that the station's broadcast day was ending at that point, but also some, if not all of the following details:
-station ownership
-studio and transmitter location(s)
-transmitter(s) frequency and power output
-network affiliation (if applicable)
-membership in trade associations (NAB, CAB, INTV, etc.)
-copyright notice
-approximate time of next sign-on
-"good night/good morning"

Immediately following the sign-off announcement was almost always the national anthem.  Again, some stations rolled their own national anthem film/video, even having local bands/choirs performing the song, but many stations got their national anthem footage from what would become a pool of common and/or popular renditions.  In the U.S., John Gillespie Magee's poem "High Flight" was aired at sign-off on numerous TV stations, in addition to the Star-Spangled Banner or other patriotic tunes.  In Canada, a select few versions of "O Canada" have been seen on television, some of which were supplied by the National Film Board.  In Newfoundland, "Ode To Newfoundland" would either accompany or replace O Canada on local stations there.  Once the anthem was over, the station's transmitter was turned off, or a test pattern (and accompanying tone) was broadcast until the next sign-on time.

Today, the practice of sign-off/sign-on is somewhat rare.  I can only name a few stations that have been known to sign off on a regular basis:
-the /A\ stations
-CHEX Peterborough and CKWS Kingston (co-owned and sharing master control)
-Radio-Canada (CBC French)
-Tele-Quebec
-TFO
-WCAX Burlington VT
-WWNY Watertown NY

If you know of any others that still sign off regularly these days, leave a comment!

happy birthday

My first broadcast-related post here... it's about time!  2011 marks the 50th anniversary of a number of television stations across Canada signing on.  CTV flagship CFTO (Ch. 9 Toronto) and co-owned CJCH (Ch. 5 Halifax) had their 50th birthdays on New Year's, and another CTV station, CFCF (Ch. 12 Montreal) turned 50 yesterday.  Other CTV stations marking 50 years in 2011 are its Ottawa-market stations, CJOH (Ch. 13 - CTV) and CHRO (Ch. 5 Pembroke - /A\)... CJOH marks its 50th anniversary on March 12th, and CHRO - which has had a rollercoaster of a history, and then some - hits the milestone in August, if you don't count Channel 5's brief downtime in the late 1970s.  This year is also the 50th for the CTV network, having launched in October of 1961.  Three more OTA stations in Canada turn 50 this year - TVA flagship CFTM (Ch. 10 Montreal), CBC's CBXT (Ch. 5 Edmonton) and independent CKPG (Ch. 2 Prince George B.C.).

knock three times

I think it's safe to say it's no longer safe to answer the door for an unexpected visitor.  This after numerous visits from not just those energy scammers, but also real criminals - accused or otherwise.  We'll start with the energy scum.

Every couple of weeks, we get a knock on the door from a rep with some energy marketing company trying to push fixed-price contracts for gas or electricity... usually gas.  One of them dropped by tonight, one of the coldest nights of the year... I stayed in my office/studio and didn't go near the door - let them freeze out there.  A couple minutes later, I looked out the window, and there's said rep shivering all the way down the street, binder in hand, searching for another target.

Unfortunately for them, there's no gas service at our house - we're on oil, like many of our neighbours.  As far as I know, the gas line on our street ends just before our house.  Once spring rolls around, chances are they'll be hammering away on the electricity side, trying to lock us into some five-year fixed-price contract only to have the real price go well below the fixed amount at some point.  To be fair, these contracts could be beneficial if energy prices do go up (and stay up) beyond the fixed price in the contract, but I'm saying no to these people and their employers because they're far too aggressive for my liking, and I don't want to have to pay hundreds to get out of the contract if energy prices suddenly drop below the contract price and stay at that lower level.

My significant other & I were renters until this past summer, when we bought our current home.  I had a semi-private entrance to my apartment, and she had her own private entrance.  I guess her apartment's "front porch" was seen by canvassers etc. as the building's main entrance, so she usually got the energy scum at her door.  Fortunately she was able to truthfully tell these people that a) she was only a tenant, b) utilities were included in her rent, and c) they'd need to talk to the landlord.  Landlord lived off-site and worked nights for the municipality.  At my apartment, where I was the lone tenant, I'd only answer the front door (my entrance) if I was expecting someone, otherwise the landlady would get it - she and her husband lived on the main floor of the house.  These energy scum (or, more specifically, their employers) are one reason why we don't answer the door unless a) we're expecting someone, or b) there's a legit unexpected visitor, such as a mail/courier delivery for which we need to sign, pizza delivery, or emergencies.

The final straw for us opening our door to unexpected visitors came in October, when two teens dropped by one afternoon, asking for cash donations to the local food bank.  I told them I'd already donated (my SO did) when one retailer in town was doing a checkout begathon in support of the food bank.  Off these kids went down the street, trying to dupe one of our neighbours.  About a week later, I'm at work, updating some content on our website, and one of our news reporters posted a story about a fundraising scam making the rounds in our area.  Turns out these kids who were asking for cash donations were crooks and, if I remember correctly, were busted by the cops.  The food bank boss had to go on the air the next day and explain that they do not go door-to-door asking for money.  If you want to chip in financially, visit the food bank and hand-deliver your cash/cheque/gift card/Canadian Tire Money directly to the boss... that way, you know your donation will be spent properly.

Between the food bank incident and the energy scum, we've decided we're no longer answering the door unless we're expecting someone.  They can stand on our front porch and pound away at the door as long as they want, but we're not opening up.

I wonder if the municipality could pass a bylaw restricting (or outright banning) canvassing, or at least requiring canvassers to apply for a permit and get the municipality's approval before they can legally go door-to-door.  That would be nice...

can't buy me love

I'll admit I'm a picky shopper.  There are things that drive me up the wall and, in some cases, make me want to avoid the offending stores whenever possible.  Yes, unfriendly staff are a no-no in my books, and I get rather annoyed if a store doesn't have what I need or want or an advertised item isn't available, but it's other stuff that peeves me as well, mainly at the front end.  This includes but is not limited to:

• greeters  - not so much those of the Walmart variety, but those in clothing/footwear stores and similar establishments usually found in malls... the ones who go on and on about this deal, that promotion, yadda yadda yadda... I really don't care.
• upsells/suggestions - no, thank you.  I don't want to "upsize" my fries & drink, I don't want the "extended coverage", I don't want the dessert.
• store-branded credit cards - it seems everybody's jumping on the credit card bandwagon as of late... so many stores now are pitching these high-interest cards, and it's only a matter of time before places you'd least expect to have a store-branded credit card program (e.g. Giant Tiger, Dollarama) will start pushing them.  The mandatory "will this be on your XYZ Store card today?" gets irritating after a while.  In addition, Loblaws has started planting sign-up staff around their stores, hiding in the aisles and begging passing customers to sign up for a PC credit card and/or bank account.  These people are just as bad as those energy marketers (scammers, as far as I'm concerned) who have you locked into an exorbitant contract the second you open your door to them.
• charity solicitations at the checkout - if a company really wants to show their "community involvement" or that they "give back", they really should give a generous portion of their profits, rather than begging customers to give a dollar or two or "round up [their] purchase" at the checkout, and then getting all the credit/recognition and any applicable tax-related benefits.  I'm especially irritated by requests for donations to companies' own charitable foundations... examples include Ronald McDonald House, Indigo's Love Of Reading Fund, President's Choice Children's Charities, Canadian Tire's Jumpstart and - my personal favourite - "S'Cool" from KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell.  If I wish to donate to a legit registered charity, e.g. Easter Seals, Canadian Cancer Society, Salvation Army, I'll donate directly to the organization... no need for a middleman.
• requests for personal information - retailers really don't need any personal details from their customers, including postal codes.  The only time when such information would be absolutely necessary would be when a customer is purchasing something that will be delivered to their home or business.

The above are among many reasons why I visit locally-owned businesses first and foremost.  No greeters, no card-based loyalty programs, no phoney-baloney charity drives, just an overall excellent experience... and the money I spend at locally-owned businesses stays local.

start me up!

I'm back to blogging after a nearly four-year hiatus!  There's been a lot of hummin' and hawwin' involved, but this morning I made the decision, partly because I was able to fire it up using my Gmail account and wouldn't need to hop on the company e-mail control panel to create an 'alias' that I'd only use for activation purposes.  The other reason is I have a lot more flexibility on a blog than I would on Twitter (which doesn't really interest me at this time) or my Facebook account.  There are a few things I'll be blogging about, so - as I used to say on my old blog - stay tuned!