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Two years ago, the titans of home electronics retailing in western Canada, Future Shop and A & B Sound, were locked in a war of words, ads, lawsuits and corporate espionage that allowed new competitors and retailing trends to sneak in unnoticed. By the time the dust had settled, the Vancouver-based chains looked around them and saw that the landscape had changed.
Out were hardware rivals such as MultiTech Warehouse Direct of Edmonton, gone bankrupt in 1995. In, or at least on the doorstep, were U.S. chains with whole new ideas of how to sell home computing and entertainment.
Gordon Harris, a Vancouver consultant on retail real estate development, goes down a list of hardware and software stores poking around western Canada. The Virgin Store is opening in Vancouver this fall. Tower Records is in Toronto, and a move west is "inevitable." The same goes for The Sega Store, which is opening soon in Toronto. Computer City is already here, though The Incredible Universe has postponed a previously announced entry into Canada. CompUSA and Blockbuster are just looking, for now.
Two themes jump out at you, Harris says. First, the action is on...