The Red Apple general merchandise store will open its first-ever Canadian retail location in Revelstoke with a soft opening this Friday, Aug. 17.
Store manager Trevor English explained the new store is the first of a wave of rebranding for The Bargain! Shop retail chain, which operates about 270 stores in Canada. The privately-owned retailer plans to convert and rebrand about 35 other retail locations in Canada to Red Apples in the first year.
"It's a rebrand of the company's logo," English explained, adding the goal is to create a more upscale, positive consumer association with the brand.
The management and staff of the former Revelstoke The Bargain! Shop are relocating from their Victoria Road location to the former home of the Field's store.
English said he worked hard to bring the first rebranded location to Revelstoke, jumping into a competitive bidding process for the empty retail location when it was vacated earlier in 2012. "I really put pressure on head office to come and look at it," he said. "I'm absolutely ecstatic. It's a proper retail space."
They're expanding from 5,900 square feet to about 9,000 square feet and will add to their line of products and improve selection in the existing lines.
New product lines will include bread, dairy, bulk candy and hardware. They'll also expand their clothing lines in footwear, consumables and clothing. "The company's consistently after new lines and products," he said.
While in transition, it will take the new store about three weeks to get all their new stock in.
"It's a soft opening tomorrow. The focus is the to get the doors open for the city," English said, adding that having Revelstoke's only general merchandise retailer closed for four days was "too long." A grand opening is planned for the near future.
Renovations of the building have included new flooring, new paint and new or repaired lighting.
The Bargain! Shop and now Red Apple trace their Canadian roots back to the 1920s when Woolworth's expanded into Canada. In the late 1990s, the US company divested their Canadian retail locations and was purchased by a management-led buyout.