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Walmart, for example, increased its square footage in Canada by 10.6% in fiscal 2013 and another 2.6% in fiscal 2014, and will add 1.5% in the current fiscal year, but “the huge infusion of capital has not yielded the returns to which Walmart is accustomed,” the analyst noted.

Operating income at the country’s biggest mass merchant has declined in three of the last seven quarters, and same-store sales at Walmart Canada have declined in six of the last seven quarters, with just a 0.2% rise in the most recent quarter.

“[Walmart’s] general merchandise sales appear to have been particularly weak, given that grocery sales have been increasing,” he added.

And even though everyone in the industry agrees that online retail sales will continue to grow, they haven’t halted the slide in many retailers’ fortunes.

A 2013 study from the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson University predicted online shopping would double as a percentage of overall retail sales by 2018, but it noted average annual per capita online sales of $170 in Canada lagged the $600 spent online per capita in the U.S.

“While e-commerce is considered to be in its infancy in Canada…the damage wrought to date [on bricks-and-mortar retail] is considerable,” Mr. Howlett said, adding all retailers right now are trying to determine how much retail square footage they should operate in order to maximize their financial returns.