1) Closure of Toys “R” Us in Barrie stirs a wave of nostalgia

Courtesy BarrieDaily/ News / By Penny Wise

Walk down the near-empty aisles of north Barrie’s Toys “R” Us and you don’t just witness a store closing—you watch a piece of the city’s collective memory packing up for good.

For decades, this Toys “R” Us was more than a retail footprint. It was where Barrie’s families ushered in birthdays, holiday rituals, and Saturday surprises, bridging generations through the universal language of toys. Its pending closure isn’t simply a business headline; it’s an inflection point for a community that’s long woven childhood dreams into that familiar strip mall near the city’s north end.

The facts are plain enough: shelves are emptying out, and employees are candid about the likely connection to a real estate transaction, as reported by Barrie News. Still, the official silence from Toys “R” Us’s marketing arm leaves the community with more questions than answers. The vacant shelves are a stark visual cue—one that triggers an uneasy mix of nostalgia and frustration among locals.

Nostalgia, after all, isn’t just sentimentality. It’s an asset—one Barrie’s Toys “R” Us accrued with every birthday balloon and parental bribe. Local culture is shaped not just by city council or hockey teams, but by the places that host our rites of passage. The closure signals a shift, not just in retail patterns but in the subtle architecture of Barrie’s identity, especially for those who measure their childhoods by action figures or board game boxes stacked floor to ceiling.

Why the store is shutting down might boil down to bottom lines or property values, an ongoing refrain in Canadian retail. But the implications stretch further: parents now scramble for alternatives, children lose a cherished playground of possibility, and the city’s cultural fabric frays just a little more.

Retail experts often note that store closures ripple outward, changing how communities connect and remember. In Barrie, the Toys “R” Us sign coming down is a tangible reminder that nostalgia and local culture are built not only on possessions, but on shared places. The challenge now is for Barrie to find new ways to spark that same sense of wonder—and to remember what gave it life in the first place.

References:
Shelves emptying at north Barrie’s Toys “R” Us amid store closure

2) Interest in ‘elbows up’ merchandise waning ahead of Canada Day, businesses say

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Natasha Baldin, June 29, 2025

When Rachael Coe decided to launch an “elbows up” merchandise line at her store in Yarmouth, N.S., in March, she said it was an immediate bestseller.

Within a week, Coe said her Timeless Memories shop had already made 400 sales. By the end of the first month, she had sold 2,500 products ranging from T-shirts to hoodies to car decals.

Demand for items bearing Canada’s rallying cry against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats was so high that Coe launched a website to keep up with the surge.

“It was a response from all over Canada,” she said. “We reached every single province then we started covering worldwide. Our ‘elbows up’ merch went everywhere.”

Many Canadian businesses hopped on the patriotic trend that also saw Ontario Premier Doug Ford wearing a “Canada is not for sale” ball cap ahead of a January meeting with Canada’s premiers and prime minister.

But Coe’s sales started slowing down by May. And despite a slight boost ahead of Canada Day, she said the “elbows up” line is now selling at similar rates to the classic red-and-white merchandise she sells every year around this time.

Although business owners say they are selling more Canada-themed products this year leading up to July 1, many have also noted a decline in “elbows up” merchandise sales. 

The rallying cry, initially embraced as a grassroots movement at the height of cross-border trade tensions and Trump’s musings about making Canada the 51st state, has shifted to a more generic expression of Canadian pride amid continued tensions, retailers and experts say. Others note that the phrase “elbows up” has increasingly been used in a partisan context, contributing to the marketing shift.

Stephanie Tomlin, Toronto-based owner of the online business Shop Love Collective, said she saw an explosion in “elbows up” merchandise sales in March, selling as many as 10 or 15 products per day. Similarly, her sales began to stagnate in May.

Leading up to Canada Day, she said she’s selling “quite a bit more” merchandise compared with previous years, but that’s due to interest in Canada-themed products across the board.

“I think the climate in Canada is a little bit more settled after the election and that … we feel like we will never be the 51st state,” Tomlin said, adding that Canadian patriotism is becoming less combative as annexation talks have died down.

Howard Ramos, a professor of sociology at Western University, said “elbows up” became “more partisan than it used to be” when Prime Minister Mark Carney embraced the phrase in his election campaign ads in late March.

“It’s just added to how the expression is dying down as a pan-Canadian claim,” he said. “Now you see on social media, especially from Conservative handles, the use of ‘elbows up’ in a sarcastic way to criticize Mark Carney or Liberal policies.”

Negative online comments about the “elbows up” movement have discouraged Coe from promoting her products on Facebook. But when she’s interacting with customers in her Yarmouth shop, she said the phrase isn’t as divisive.

“It’s not a political term, and it simply means that you’re defending your country, and everyone should be defending our country, just like you would defend (against) a goal in hockey,” Coe said.

Danielle McDonagh, owner of Vernon, B.C.-based Rowantree Clothing, said she stopped promoting her “elbows up” merchandise on a large scale when she noticed the phrase being interpreted as an “anti-Conservative” and “boomer” movement.

For McDonagh, increased concern about the political climate in the United States has also chipped away at the lightheartedness of the “elbows up” movement. 

“I think some of the levity is gone for me,” she said. 

While sales of her “elbows up” products have dropped by about 90 per cent since hitting 1,000 in the first month, she said she continues to promote the merchandise in small batches at local markets in Vernon.

Business owners say their customers continue to prioritize supporting the Canadian economy, as they are routinely answering questions about where their products are manufactured.

And the push to buy Canadian isn’t just coming from this side of the border. Coe said many American tourists arriving by ferry from Maine visit her shop in search of Canadian merchandise.

“(Tourists) want to support us just as much as Canadians want to support us,” Coe said.

McDonagh said her business sees similar interest from Americans.

“I’m shipping a lot of Canada-centric merchandise to the States, which I just love,” McDonagh said. “People chat with me on my site and say … we’re supporting you.”

3) Lululemon sues Costco for selling alleged dupes of its products

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Tara Deschamps, June 29, 2025

Lululemon Athletica Canada Inc. is accusing Costco Wholesale Corp. of infringing on its intellectual property by selling knockoffs of some of its most popular products.

A lawsuit filed in a California court recently alleges Costco sells dupes of Lululemon’s Scuba hoodies and sweatshirts, Define jackets and ABC pants.

Some of the alleged fakes Vancouver-based Lululemon identified are sold under Costco’s private label Kirkland, but others are made by manufacturers Danskin, Jockey and Spyder. 

“Some customers incorrectly believe these infringing products are authentic Lululemon apparel while still other customers specifically purchase the infringing products because they are difficult to distinguish from authentic Lululemon products, particularly for downstream purchasers or observers,” the lawsuit says.

Lululemon alleges these scenarios take advantage of patents it holds, as well as the reputation and goodwill it has built with customers.

In its 49-page court filing, Lululemon says it tried to address the dupes by sending Costco cease and desist letters but is now asking a court to step in.

Lululemon has requested the matter be heard by a jury trial, which it wants to order Costco to cease manufacturing, importing, marketing and selling the alleged dupes. 

It also wants the Washington-based retailer to remove any instances where it was advertising alleged dupes online or in print and is asking the court to require Costco to cover any lost profits Lululemon incurred from the products.

Costco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It has yet to file a response to Lululemon’s lawsuit.

Dupes have become incredibly popular in recent years as shoppers looked to cope with inflation and a global trade war by seeking products mimicking the originals made by name brands.

The phenomenon has gained traction online in particular, with social media accounts sharing the best dupes they’ve found.

While knock-off cosmetics are especially popular, Lululemon has also become a target because it sells its athletic wear at higher prices, which some customers find unattainable.

The lawsuit comes weeks  after Lululemon said it would try to weather new and possibly incoming tariffs with price increases that will be “modest in nature” and applied only to a “small” portion of its products.

The brand has been working to bounce back from a lack of newness that disappointed consumers last year and earlier this year.

Newness — how fresh a brand’s products and styles appear to consumers — is one of the key ways retailers draw in customers.