Sunday, January 9, 2011

Head Office Distances Itself from Mark's Franchise

Robin Lynas, Vice President of corporate relations for Mark's Work Wearhouse, warns that a franchise buy-out by head office will not necessarily increase in amount with the square footage of an expanded local store. “If they expand the store and their sales do not increase to match, it doesn't look good” said Lynas, in a phone conversation. He went on to explain that while head office does have first right-of-refusal for any franchise operation, the buy-out formula is based on sales as well as a number of other factors.
Ten paper letters as well as numerous phone calls have been received by head office in opposition to the planned expansion of Mark's on Salt Spring. ( The plan would see Mark's expand over 900 square feet and take up the entire block of downtown street-frontage.) Many Salt Springers have stated that while they want to support Mark's, they don't want to lose the unique and charming character of a more varied commercial area. Lynas also stated that Mark's is a destination store, best suited to an area with plenty of convenient parking.
Only around ten percent of over three hundred Mark's stores remain as franchise businesses, the rest have been bought back by the parent company which is a subsidiary of Canadian Tire, making the prospect of another remotely owned, big chain store in downtown Ganges, a remarkably reasonable concern. Lynas suggested that the most important conversation for the community to have is with the land owner, Leon Aptekman. Mr. Aptekman has been unavailable for comment and has ignored the many petition signatures, letters to the editor and personal pleas by community members.
Local Trust committee members will discuss the development permit application for the new Mark's store, on Friday, January 14th at their monthly meeting, held at Artspring. It remains to be seen whether current bylaws will suffice to prevent the expansion but the meeting is open to the public and polite discussion is welcomed. The townhall portion is scheduled for 12:30, the application will be discussed after that.

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