Canadian Tire will close 17 Atmosphere Stores, including some in B.C.

Of the 17 "uncompetitive" Atmosphere stores planned to close in the next four months, 14 will be relocated to existing SportChek locations.

Canadian Tire will close 17 Atmosphere locations in Western Canada in the following months, including some in British Columbia, as the business seeks to mitigate the consequences of US tariffs.

The closures are part of the business's Truth North strategy, which will invest $2 billion over four years to restructure the development organization.  The plan also aims to transition the corporation from its holding company model to a more flexible structure by consolidating the systems and data it owns under all of its banners.

Along with Atmosphere, the Toronto-based Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. owns SportChek, Party City, Mark's, and Pro Hockey Life.

"We will operate more efficiently and go to market more strategically, harnessing our banners and loyalty system to elevate our scale," Canadian Tire CEO Greg Hicks promised in a statement.

Of the 17 "uncompetitive" Atmosphere stores due to close in the next four months, 14 will be relocated to existing SportChek locations.  According to a spokeswoman, the relocations will take place in phases.

Atmosphere currently has ten locations in British Columbia, including West Vancouver, Coquitlam, Surrey, Langley, Nanaimo, two in Victoria, and one in Kamloops, Kelowna, and Prince George.  Alberta has four locations in Calgary, four in Edmonton, and one in Red Deer and Banff.

The firm hasn't said which sites will close.

The company is also seeking to find new jobs for affected staff.  There was no indication of how many workers would be affected by the shutdown.

The corporation rejected an interview but described the move as a method to minimize silos, redundancies, and expensive back-office processes.

In addition to the closures, Canadian Tire's new strategy will involve optimizing its SportChek portfolio with new concept stores, expanding its reward program by adding brand partners who issue Canadian Tire money and attempting to gain more Triangle Mastercard customers.

It will also conduct up to $400 million share buybacks, tripling its previously announced plans to repurchase $200 million.

A revamped leadership team will guide each phase of the approach.  Susan O'Brien, the company's chief brand and customer officer, will now be its chief transformation officer, and T.J.Flood, who now serves as president of Canadian Tire's retail division, will become COO.

Following a search, Canadian Tire will select a chief commercial officer.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Irene Nattel described improvements as "sensible."

"If properly executed, the result should be a closer connection to (Canadian Tire's) customer base and a more effective approach to procurement and merchandising, in turn driving stronger revenue growth/profitability," she said in a letter to shareholders.

Thursday's announcement comes weeks after Canadian Tire Corp. agreed to sell Helly Hansen to Kontoor Brands, which owns Wrangler, Lee, and Rock & Republic, for over $1.3 billion.

Hicks has also recently warned about the implications of tariffs.  He stated that consumers had begun to loosen their frugality in response to the economic slump but that this was likely "substantially erased" when the United States started levying tariff threats.

Canadian Tire buys around 15% of its merchandise from the United States.  It might locate Canadian suppliers for 25-30% of its imports from Mexico.