This is more common than you’d think - often subsidiaries are distinct enough that the Canadian or Australian version survives the US parent’s bankruptcy.
And sometimes it’s just a different store that licensed the name for 100 years.
This is more common than you’d think - often subsidiaries are distinct enough that the Canadian or Australian version survives the US parent’s bankruptcy.
And sometimes it’s just a different store that licensed the name for 100 years.
My other favorite example of this is the A&W Restaurants which in the states was a bit more of a fast food establishment. It was never that successful, but you'd see them every so often. Gone now in the states, but I believe its Canadian successor is still going strong.
There's still quite a few A&W restaurants around in the US though they are rareish.
https://awrestaurants.com/locations-list/
400+ according to their wikipedia entry.
A&W is exceptionally rural now, and I'm not 100% sure why - it's a weird combination of fast food (drive thru) + waitress/sit down ordering that doesn't really exist anywhere else (kind of how there are a few carhop/drive UP restaurants that still exist).
There are bunch of A&W restaurants in Okinawa as well and as far as I know, it's popular.
The Canadian A&Ws are very good as far as fast food burger joints go. The American version is quite shitty though, last time I saw one years ago.
Canadian A&W is expensive though - like "only really go for a treat" expensive. Made McDicks somehow more reasonable.
On a recent visit to the UK (from the US) I briefly thought I was in an alternate universe because their TJ Maxx stores are virtually identical but inexplicably called TK Maxx.
(Well, not quite inexplicably. Wikipedia cleared it up for me.)
Australia also still has E.B Games.