TORONTO — Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. is rolling out a new strategy that will see it invest $2 billion over four years to restructure the company for growth but will also mean the closure of some stores.
The True North plan launched Thursday is meant to usher in a new era for the Toronto-based retailer, which also owns SportChek, Party City, Mark's and Pro Hockey Life, as its working to fend off the effects of tariffs the U.S. started applying to Canadian and Chinese goods this week.
Canadian Tire said the new plan will move the business away from its holding company model to a more agile organization by aggregating the systems and data it holds across all its banners.
The company declined an interview request but positioned the shift as a way to eliminate silos, redundancies and costly back-office processes.
"We will operate more efficiently and go to market more strategically, harnessing our banners and loyalty system to elevate our scale," Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks promised in a statement.
That quest for operational efficiency will also bring the closure of 17 Atmosphere stores Canadian Tire has deemed "uncompetitive." Fourteen of the stores selling apparel and outdoor gear will be relocated to SportChek stores in phases throughout 2025.
Canadian Tire spokesperson Joscelyn Dosanjh did not indicate whether any job cuts will stem from the closures, but said in an email that the company is trying to place employees impacted by the changes at other locations as their stores in Western Canada close over the next four months.
In addition to the closures, Canadian Tire's new plan will see it optimize its SportChek portfolio with new concept stores and expand its loyalty program by adding brand partners that issue Canadian Tire money and striving to acquire more Triangle Mastercard holders.
It will also carry out up to $400 million in share buybacks, doubling its previously disclosed plans to repurchase $200 million worth.
Guiding each part of the strategy will be a restructured leadership team. Susan O'Brien, the company's chief brand and customer officer, will now serve as its chief transformation officer, while TJ Flood, the president of its Canadian Tire retail division, will become its chief operating officer.
After a search, Canadian Tire will appoint someone to take the chief commercial officer role.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel saw the series of changes as "sensible."
"If properly executed, the result should be closer connection to (Canadian Tire's) customer base and a more effective approach to procurement and merchandising, in turn driving stronger revenue growth/profitability," she wrote in a note to investors.
Thursday's announcement comes weeks after Canadian Tire Corp. signed an almost $1.3-billion deal to sell sportswear company Helly Hansen to Kontoor Brands, which owns Wrangler, Lee and Rock & Republic.
Hicks has also spent time recently warning of the effects of the tariffs. He has said consumers had started to ease up on the frugality they adopted to cope with the economic slowdown, but that progress was likely "substantially erased" when the U.S. started levying tariff threats.
Canadian Tire purchases about 15 per cent of its goods from the U.S. It estimates it could find Canadian suppliers for between 25 and 30 per cent of the items it gets from south of the border.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 6, 2025.
Companies in this story: (TSX:CTC.A)
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
