O’LEARY
Great Canadian Dollar Store franchise owner Kevin Kane is going back to the drawing board on his plans for an O’Leary, P.E.I. store.
Kane indicated last year he hoped to open new P.E.I. stores this year in Crapaud and O’Leary. The Crapaud store has become a reality but Kane said he is looking for a spot to rent before proceeding with a store in O’Leary. He said he was going to open a store in a strip mall the Town of O’Leary was planning, but the town moved away from those plans last month.
Meanwhile, the franchise continues to grow across Canada. A store set to open in Bridgewater, NS next week will be the franchise’s 115th store, and stores planned for Kingston NS and Bathurst NB this year will help grow the total number of stores across Canada to 124 by year’s end, of which Kane will be the owner of 48 in Atlantic Canada alone. He became a Great Canadian Dollar Store franchisee in 1997 and acquired ownership of the franchise in 2015.
Kane, who also has West Prince stores in Alberton and Bloomfield, acknowledges an O’Leary store and having at least 50 stores in Atlantic Canada are still among his objectives. He said he would need to rent at least 6,000 square feet of retail space to proceed with an O’Leary store.
