LITTLE CURRENT—Manitoulin has a new, low-cost retail store that promises to be a great asset to the Island community. The Great Canadian Dollar Store, a major Eastern Canada retail chain has opened its second Ontario store in Little Current and quickly began seeing brisk business as customers flocked to see what this new addition to Manitoulin’s retail scene has to offer.
The store is located across from the Independent grocery store in the old GG’s Foodland location.
The Expositor dropped in to chat with Trista Garnett, the corporate team lead setting up the store. Ms. Garnett, along with her colleague Sherry Kieth have been busy over the past couple of weeks training the 11 employees and ensuring the shelves are stocked to corporate standards.
photos by Michael Erskine
The new business will be managed by Tammy Bryan-Walsh of Little Current.
The Great Canadian Dollar Store has been expanding its operations from its East Coast base. The owner lives in New Brunswick and the setup crew themselves hail from Newfoundland.
This is the second corporate store to be established in Ontario, the first went into Thessalon on the North Shore in July. The target communities for The Great Canadian Dollar Store tend to be in more rural areas, although the company does have some stores in urban areas. So far, the company has 73 corporate locations—with only one location in what would be considered a full-on city.
The timing could hardly be better, with Canadians facing a cost-of-living crisis and the threat of US tariffs looming on the horizon (something of a moving target as US President Trump keeps moving the goalposts around).
The chain is currently working on how they will navigate the tariff threat.
As for the store, it has a wide range of low-cost items, although Ms. Garnett admits the most likely item to be found that only costs a dollar would probably be found in the candy aisles—of which there are plenty.
From bedding to balloons, birthday cards to kitchen wares, from socks to pantyhose, the shelves contain a host of items, including canned and dry goods.
Ms. Garnett notes the product mix will adjust over time. “We are just getting our feet wet,” she said. “We will see what sells.”
