BIGGEST IN CANADA
Great Canadian Dollar Store preparing for business
Dollar store opening soon in Prince Street Plaza.
The largest Great Canadian Dollar Store in the country will soon open its doors at the Prince Street Plaza.
Owners of the 14,000-squarefoot location have set the middle of November as the targeted opening date for what is likely to be the first of four or five such stores to call Cape Breton home.
“We are looking forward to this and just can’t wait to get it open,” said Kevin Kane, whose family owns all Great Canadian Dollar Stores in Canada.
“It’ll be opening at a great time, right at the beginning of the Christmas rush and I think consumers will be surprised at what we have to offer in both selection and value.”
Kane describes the business as family oriented and “almost like a miniature department store” that might bring back memories of places like the People’s Store, Steadmans and the Metropolitan, but with “sharper” price points.
“You are going to see an incredibly large party section, followed by an equally as large craft section. Confectionary candy is one of our largest departments. We always have deals on pop and chips and candy.”
Linen has been a big seller in other markets.
Kane is from Quispamsis, N.B., and started in the business some 20 years ago when he opened a New Brunswick location that became the first Great Canadian Dollar Store east of Alberta.
After two and half years and 30 stores as a franchisee, he decided to buy the entire company and has since expanded its size from 94 locations to 114 once Sydney opens next month.
“We’ve been looking for the right (Sydney) spot for a few years and Crombie, a Sobeys-owned company that owns that mall, presented me with an opportunity.”
Kane said the lease in Sydney and a new New Glasgow location that opens on Thursday, were signed on the same day.
In Sydney, he’s already hired a manager and is in the process of finalizing jobs for three other full-time positions.
“This store should have a minimum of 25 employees to open the store — all local people,” he said.
“We will need 20-plus casual or part-time employees. People can just drop their resumes at the store.”
He did not reveal the locations for the planned four or five other Cape Breton stores, but said they are close to finalizing a lease agreement for at least one of them.
Local craft people might also benefit from the arrival of the Great Canadian Dollar Store. Once the store opens, management plans to seek out small, local businesses that might want to wholesale their products in the store.
It’s a formula recently tried in Truro with bath balms and soaps that went quite well, Kane said.