Establishments
General Merchandise Stores (NAICS 452)

Under this topic you will find information on the number, size and location in the General Merchandise Stores (NAICS 452) subsector. You can use this information to assess the existing level of competition within the subsector in your province.

Change NAICS Level…44-45 > Retail TradeIn this section of CIS there is no data available at lower levels of detail.
Change Topic…DefinitionSME BenchmarkingRetail Revenues and ExpensesCapital InvestmentOther InformationCompany Directories

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Establishments by Employment Type and Region

The data presented under this heading come from Statistics Canada's Canadian Business Patterns Database which offers statistical information based on the Business Register. The counts were taken in December 2011.

Some establishments do not employ any individuals, and in some cases the employment type of an establishment cannot be determined (indeterminate). Non-employers are in effect owner operated and the owners do not pay wages or salaries to themselves as an employee of the company. Even though some establishments do not maintain employee payrolls, they may have work forces, which may consist of contracted workers, part-time employees, family members or business owners.

The table below shows the breakdown between employer and non-employer or indeterminate establishments for each province and territory as well as a percentage distribution at the national level. For the General Merchandise Stores subsector, 28.0% of establishments are non-employers or indeterminate and 72.0% have one or more employees.

Number of Establishments in Canada by Type and Region: December 2011
General Merchandise Stores (NAICS 452)

Province or Territory	Employers	Non-Employers/ Indeterminate	Total	% of Canada
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Patterns Database, December 2011.
Alberta	695	226	921	9.9%
British Columbia	891	312	1,203	12.9%
Manitoba	252	68	320	3.4%
New Brunswick	210	34	244	2.6%
Newfoundland and Labrador	188	48	236	2.5%
Northwest Territories	14	0	14	0.2%
Nova Scotia	257	42	299	3.2%
Nunavut	11	0	11	0.1%
Ontario	2,747	1,531	4,278	45.9%
Prince Edward Island	33	5	38	0.4%
Quebec	1,130	263	1,393	14.9%
Saskatchewan	298	57	355	3.8%
Yukon Territories	9	0	9	0.1%
CANADA	6,735	2,586	9,321	100%
Percent Distribution	72.3%	27.7%	100%

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Establishments by Employment Size Category and Region

The data presented under this heading come from Statistics Canada's Canadian Business Patterns Database which offers statistical information based on the Business Register. The counts were taken in December 2011.

The size of a business can be defined in many ways, for example by the value of its annual sales, its annual gross or net revenue, the value of its assets, or by the number of people it employs. In this section a definition based on the number of employees is used.

Establishments are considered micro if they employ fewer than 5 people. Above this threshold, a goods-producing firm is considered small if it has fewer than 100 employees, above that size, and up to 499 employees, a firm is considered medium-sized. The term SME (for small and medium enterprises) is used to refer to all establishments under the large cut-off of 500 employees. For more details, see information on Key Small Business Statistics.

The table below indicates the number of employer establishments by employment size category and by province or territory in the General Merchandise Stores subsector.

Number of Employer Establishments in Canada
By Employment Size Category and Region: December 2011
General Merchandise Stores (NAICS 452)

Province or Territory	Employment Size Category (Number of employees)
	Micro 1-4	Small 5-99	Medium 100-499	Large 500+
Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Patterns Database, December 2011.
Alberta	208	371	116	0
British Columbia	343	443	104	1
Manitoba	72	145	35	0
New Brunswick	31	154	25	0
Newfoundland and Labrador	57	115	16	0
Northwest Territories	4	9	1	0
Nova Scotia	66	161	30	0
Nunavut	0	11	0	0
Ontario	982	1,371	386	8
Prince Edward Island	8	20	5	0
Quebec	200	766	162	2
Saskatchewan	78	192	28	0
Yukon Territory	4	4	1	0
CANADA	2,053	3,762	909	11
Percent Distribution	30.5%	55.9%	13.5%	0.2%

In 2011, the breakdown of employer establishments in the General Merchandise Stores subsector was as follows: 30.5% of them were considered micro, employing less than five employees. Small establishments accounted for 55.9% and medium-sized establishments accounted for an additional 13.5% of the total number of establishments. Large employers, those with more than five hundred persons on payroll, accounted for 0.2% of the total establishments in the General Merchandise Stores subsector.

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Changes in Establishment Counts

Establishment counts change primarily due to the net effect of business entries into and exits from the economy. Other factors can also influence these counts.

An establishment is placed into a NAICS category according to its primary business activity - the product whose revenues are the highest in terms of dollar value. If an establishment produces more than one product or service and these activities cross over NAICS boundaries then an establishment could move from one NAICS code to another, diminishing numbers attributed to one code and augmenting another. For example, an establishment could be making steel and plastic auto parts, and the NAICS code to which it is assigned would depend on which product accounts for the largest share of its revenues in a specific year.

Finally, the number of establishments can be affected by methodological changes, i.e. changes in the method of identifying inactive units. This may lead to false interpretation of the economy behavior and this is why Statistics Canada does not recommend using the Canadian Business Patterns data for longitudinal analysis.

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Understanding Business Establishments and Enterprises

For statistical reporting purposes, different types of business entities are recognized, e.g. the enterprise and the establishment. This section deals exclusively with the establishment which is generally in a single location producing a limited range of products.

The establishment, as a statistical unit used in business surveys, is defined as the most homogeneous unit of production for which the business maintains accounting records from which it is possible to compile data on the inputs used in the production process (cost of materials and services, labour and capital) and the gross value of production (total sales, revenues and inventories).

The activity of an establishment can be described in terms of what is produced (the type of goods and services produced) or how they are produced (the raw material and service inputs used and the process of production or the skills and technology used).

Depending on the sector, establishments are referred to by a variety of trade designations. For instance, in the Manufacturing Sector, the establishment generally corresponds to a plant, mill or factory; while in the case of the Wholesale Trade sector, there is a distinction between what are commonly known as agents and brokers on the one hand, and wholesale merchants on the other.

In the sectors dealing with construction, transportation and communications, activities tend to be dispersed. The individual sites, projects, fields, networks, lines or systems of such activities are not normally treated as establishments. The establishment is represented by those relatively permanent main or branch offices, terminals, stations, etc. that are either:

• directly responsible for supervising such activities, or
• the base from which personnel operate to carry out these activities.

In contrast, an enterprise, as a statistical unit in business surveys, is defined as the organisational unit of a business that directs and controls the allocation of resources relating to its domestic operations, and for which consolidated financial and balance sheet accounts are maintained from which international transactions, an international investment position and a consolidated financial position for the unit can be derived.

In the case of most small and medium sized businesses in Canada, the enterprise and the establishment are identical. Large and complex enterprises, consisting of more than one establishment, may belong to more than one NAICS industry.