TORONTO — Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. is hoping to “reinvent” Mark’s by pouring $200 million into opening and refreshing more of the apparel retailer’s stores. The cash infusion announced Wednesday will both expand Mark’s overall footprint and help revamp stores. By the end of 2028, the goal is for at least 40 of its expected 387 Mark’s locations to be new or converted to an updated model the company has been experimenting with since 2023. That new format uses bigger spaces — roughly 25,000 square feet — to give stores a brighter, more airy and welcoming feel. The locations also tend to offer more expansive women’s and children’s sections as well as brand-specific shops nestled within broader Mark’s stores. The model has been adopted by 21 stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec so far. Mark’s president PJ Czank sees it as an opportunity for the nearly 50-year-old company to “change how customers see us.” While trades workers have been accustomed to visiting the retailer since 1977 for apparel, the acquisition of Mark’s by Canadian Tire in the early aughts sparked an expanded modus operandi for the company. Under Canadian Tire, Mark’s was shaped into a destination for casual wear. The forthcoming transformation of some stores and launch of others is meant to build on that journey by luring in customers who haven’t realized the brand is more than a place to get work boots or jeans. “We’d like to be more inspiring and more relevant, particularly for women who don’t traditionally shop us, but also younger customers,” Czank explained. “We’re appealing to more new Canadians and we really want to change people’s minds and say to customers who haven’t considered us, this is the time to consider us.” Stores already using the new format have seen improved customer acquisition metrics, including among women and younger shoppers. Both are valuable demographics to capture because some research suggests women tend to make most household purchasing decisions and young people often formulate lifelong opinions and affinities for brands in their early years. Canadian Tire decided to launch the new format at Mark’s in 2023, when it was looking at its real estate portfolio. “What we realized is that our biggest stores are actually the most productive,” Czank said. It snatched up five former Bed Bath & Beyond locations to test the concept and has been building on that momentum ever since. Its biggest store using the concept yet recently opened in Thunder Bay, Ont. It spans 36,000 gross square feet and includes shop-in-shop spaces for Columbia, Silver Jeans, Carhartt, Timberland and Levi’s. While Czank initially fretted that bigger stores would hinder the number of sales Mark’s scored per square foot, they actually drove double-digit increases and triggered promising results from less tangible metrics like how people feel about shopping there. “Some of these metrics I actually had to go ask the team to go back and double check them because they were so good,” he said. The model doesn’t fit every market though. Czank concedes it’s not really suitable for downtown Toronto or Vancouver, where space is at a premium, but it works well in metropolitan and suburban regions. Even stores that aren’t converted to the new format are benefiting, he said, because the company applies learnings and hit features from the refreshed locations to its other sites. “There’s plenty of opportunity, I think, for us to continue to grow with this,” Czank said. “This concept is a scratching of the surface.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2026. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
