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TIRE CORP. ON A ROLL

Most people associate the Canadian Tire brand with hockey gear and auto parts rather than home decor. But the 457-store chain, owned by Toronto-based Canadian Tire Corp., has long been a leading retailer of home improvement merchandise and is moving to expand in that market.

Its Concept 20/20 stores, introduced last year, are part of the effort. The new stores, designed to appeal to families and women, feature wider aisles, brighter lighting and a clear designated merchandise area called “Living,” which includes home decor items, appliances and housewares.

To date, Canadian Tire has launched 34 of these new stores and says it plans to convert an undisclosed number of existing stores to the 20/20 format.

In November Canadian Tire rolled out a line of paint named for Home & Garden Television personality Debbie Travis. A new line of Debbie Travis storage and home organization products is scheduled for this fall, followed by a fully coordinated line of decor products next spring. With these new features, “Canadian Tire expects to go from a dominant position in the decor business to a destination place for decor solutions,” said company spokeswoman Lisa Gibson.

To be sure, Canadian Tire is a formidable presence already. Hardlines, a weekly online home improvements trade publication, estimates that the chain rang up C$3.9 billion in sales of home-related items last year. That puts it in fourth place, behind Home Depot Canada, Rona and the Home Hardware chain.

— ST