NEW Kim Kardashian brand kids' sleepwear and more: Here are some recalls to watch out for
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Holiday spending in Canada is expected to drop this year as inflation shrinks consumer buying power and economic uncertainty looms over household budgets, a new report says.
In its 2022 holiday retail outlook, Deloitte Canada said Tuesday overall holiday spending is expected to fall 17 per cent to $1,520 per household as recessionary concerns and higher interest rates rein in budgets.
Canadians are also planning to shop early and hunt for deals in a bid to stretch their spending power, Deloitte said.
"Shopping is going to be earlier and deal hunting will be probably at a bit of an all time high as Canadians look to stretch their holiday budget," said Marty Weintraub, a partner and national retail consulting leader at Deloitte.
The report, based on a Leger survey of more than 1,000 Canadians conducted in late August, found more than a third of respondents plan to start shopping earlier than last year.
Retailers appear to be responding by rolling out Christmas-themed products earlier. The so-called Christmas creep in retail has resulted in many stores featuring holiday goods as early as September, often overshadowing Halloween.
Some stores are also introducing holiday promotions and deals earlier in the fall.
Amazon Canada, for example, introduced the Prime Early Access Sale last week, offering a two-day shopping event to Prime members.
Meanwhile, Black Friday -- a massive retail event that once signalled the start of holiday shopping for many consumers -- is increasingly how some Canadians plan to close out their seasonal spending, the Deloitte survey found.
"We saw quite a big jump in terms of how many Canadians will complete their shopping by Black Friday," Weintraub said.
The poll found 26 per cent of respondents will finish their holiday shopping on Black Friday, up from 18 per cent last year.
"All the retail seasons over the past few years are getting earlier," Weintraub said. "The retail market is competitive."
The planned reduction in spending this year is unusual compared with conventional retail trends, he said.
"Canadians are telling us they're going to be reducing their spending, which is not typical," Weintraub said. "We've seen it typically increase year over year, except in 2020."
The reduction appears to be propelled by mounting grocery bills and overall inflation.
The Deloitte report said 76 per cent of Canadians polled said they are reining in holiday spending because of higher food prices, followed closely by inflation worries and economic concerns.
The report found the drop in holiday spending reflects the financial challenges of Canadians, with 41 per cent saying their household finances have declined this year.
That figure is slightly higher in Atlantic Canada, where 52 per cent of survey respondents said their household finances have waned this year.
The report suggested the tougher economic times could be a boon for discount stores.
"The value-oriented retailers that compete on price ... are clearly positioned to take market share right now," Weintraub said. "Likewise, retailers in the luxury space that serve the 'one per cent' will be OK."
It's retailers in the "mushy middle" that don't appeal to bargain hunters or high-end shoppers that are going to feel the pinch, he said.
"If you're in that mushy middle, I think it's going to be much more challenging."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2022.
Here are the latest recalls Canadians should watch out for, according to Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Britney Spears and Sam Asghari are officially divorced and single.
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.
Since 1932, Montreal's Henri Henri has been filled to the brim with every possible kind of hat, from newsboy caps to feathered fedoras.
Police in Oak Bay, B.C., had to close a stretch of road Sunday to help an elephant seal named Emerson get safely back into the water.
Out of more than 9,000 entries from over 2,000 breweries in 50 countries, a handful of B.C. brews landed on the podium at the World Beer Cup this week.
Raneem, 10, lives with a neurological condition and liver disease and needs Cholbam, a medication, for a longer and healthier life.
The lawyer for a residential school survivor leading a proposed class-action defamation lawsuit against the Catholic Church over residential schools says the court action is a last resort.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.