Canadian retail sales in March saw worst drop on record — and that’s just the start

The desperate situation for Canadian retailers came into clearer focus on Friday as Statistics Canada released a report showing record-breaking declines of billions of dollars in sector-wide sales during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It goes without saying that either figure — the one for March or the one for April — would be record-breaking, but that back-to-back declines of this magnitude take us into fully uncharted waters,” Derek Holt, Scotiabank’s head, capital markets economics, said in note to clients on Friday. But Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., owners of the global Circle K brand, on Friday said the decline in March was a blip.

Couche-Tard changed its assortment in the early weeks of the pandemic in Canada toward larger, take-home products instead of single-serve, ready-to-eat items. For example, customers preferred a big bag of potato chips to one little bag to eat on the go. Trudel said Couche-Tard has started to see gains in alcohol and tobacco, particularly because “contraband” cigarettes are now harder to find.

But auto sales, by far, contributed the most to the overall decline, down roughly $5 billion compared to February, or 35.6 per cent. StatsCan said the drop was due to lower demand for new and used cars, as well as auto parts, “as Canadians continued to physically distance and avoid all non-essential commerce.”

Crazy prediction: April will be rock bottom May a little better June a little little better July even a little better And so on

Couch Tard Griffintown represent?

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