Jobs will be saved when Canadian Tire warehouse in Brampton closes

Workers who remain at the large Canadian Tire warehouse in Brampton will stay with the company when the facility closes.

Last week, Canadian Tire announced it had sold and is pulling out of the property it held at Steeles Avenue and Bramalea Road.

The $258 million sale of the 93-acre site which has served as a distribution and warehouse facility for 50 years, will see operations now run out of other facilities around the GTA including Bolton.

A message from Canadian Tire to INbrampton.com indicates only a few workers are still at the site.

“We have mainly been using it for inventory storage for the past few years, with a small number of employees still working at the site…all of whom will be transitioned to a new DC (distribution centre).” the company says.

The company says the distribution centre is no longer needed and instead will operate out of newer, more modern, more highly automated facilities.

When the Brampton site first opened, it was the largest distribution centre in Canada — the second largest in North America — and was one of the first to be computerized in the sorting and collection of stock.

“Fifty years ago, this site was a first-of-its-kind in Canada and a fundamental building block for our supply chain,” Greg Hicks, Canadian Tire’s president and CEO, said in announcing the sale of the property. “In that same spirit, we have been investing and evolving, introducing modern and sophisticated facilities in the region, which are key to our supply chain of the future.”

Hick went on to say the company’s need for the site “decreased significantly” in recent years.

It is believed Canadian Tire will continue to operate out of the location as part of an lease-back agreement until they are able to shift the work to the other locations. It’s not known when that will take place.