Walmart has a new head of its international division—Doug McMillon, above, who replaces retiring chief executive Mike Duke in January. (Doug is a 47-year-old company vet who has held many senior roles there.) It comes at a time when Walmart is up to its ears in intense competition from others like Target. (It's Game of Thrones for discount retail supremacy, with fewer dragons.) However, J.C. Williams Group senior partner John Williams says don't expect the move to have a huge impact up here on the strategic side; internationally, Walmart has been growing, whereas the US has stagnated.

Walmart (snapped is the Mississauga store) has "great depth of management up here," he says. "But they are facing off against Amazon, which plays by a different set of rules." The retail landscape in Canada is ever-evolving and it's not a "for-the- weak-of-heart business," he says, adding that while Target has slipped out of the gate with their Canadian launch, "they will clean that up."