New Federal firearm buyback program has cost $67M, still not collecting guns after 4 years
The federal firearm buyback program has cost taxpayers nearly $67.2 million since it was announced in 2020, but it still hasn't collected a single gun.
A blast from the past is coming to Toys "R" Us Canada.
HMV, the entertainment brand that departed the country seven years ago, said this week that it has begun selling merchandise in five of the toy retailer's Ontario locations. The rollout will continue across other Toys "R" Us Canada locations this spring, it said.
Products for sale in the HMV-branded sections include CDs, DVDs, vinyl, record players and other collector items like T-shirts and books.
The move, which marks HMV's return to the Canadian market, is being positioned by Toys "R" Us Canada as a way to appease consumer demand for pop culture, collector and nostalgic merchandise.
Such products have long featured heavily in the playbook used by Putman Investments, an Ancaster, Ont.-based business which owns HMV, Toys "R" Us Canada, Sunrise Records, Everest Toys, FYE, T. Kettle and Rooms + Spaces.
Putman got ahold of the HMV brand in February 2019, when his Sunrise Records and Entertainment Limited bought 100 HMV stores across the U.K.
At the time, owner Doug Putman told The Canadian Press that it is "unlikely, but definitely possible" that he would resurrect the brand in Canada, where 102 HMV stores were shuttered in 2017.
He planned to leverage his roots in the toy business by focusing HMV's U.K. offerings on fan-based merchandise, including board games, toys and licensed T-shirts.
Putman later purchased Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us Canada in August 2021 from Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which had nabbed the retailer for $300 million in 2018 from its U.S. parent, which had filed for bankruptcy protection.
The toy and entertainment sectors have both seen a myriad of challenges in recent years. Both have seen high interest rates and inflation rankle customers and make some think twice about discretionary purchases.
The toy sector has also grappled with the rise of giants like Amazon, a slow recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, more interest in second-hand goods and a shift toward digital and experiential gifts.
The entertainment industry has seen streaming services reign supreme, pushing many to eschew buying physical copies of films, television shows and albums.
Vinyl, however, has been a bright spot. Sales of records have risen in recent years, pushing several retailers including Indigo Books & Music to highlight the category more prominently.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 1, 2024.
The federal firearm buyback program has cost taxpayers nearly $67.2 million since it was announced in 2020, but it still hasn't collected a single gun.
If something looks too good to be true, it might be. That's the message from Saskatchewan horticulturists after customers have come into their stores hoping to buy purple apple trees this month.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has lost 205 firearms since 2020, including more than 120 handguns and at least five fully automatic weapons like machine-guns.
Following the MIND diet for 10 years produced a small but significant decrease in the risk of developing thinking, concentration and memory problems, a new study found.
For most people, dinner on a cruise ship is a time to relax. But when influencer couple Abby and Matt Howard decided to kick back with a dinner à deux, they ended up kicking up a storm.
Chris Knayzeh was in a town overlooking Lebanon's capital when he heard the rumbling aftershock of the 2020 Beirut port blast. Hundreds of tons of haphazardly stored ammonium nitrates had exploded, killing and injuring thousands of people.
B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.
A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.