Crypto miner stores are coming to Toronto, and it’s all part of a push to attract new customers, say those who are familiar with the industry.
The stores, all located on University Ave.
and College Sts., will be a magnet for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
There are also plans for more locations to come on College St. and University Ave., said Michael Fenton, who is helping to oversee the new stores.
“We are trying to grow the market for bitcoin as much as possible,” he said.
“The best way to grow is to have an ecosystem of stores and restaurants, and that’s where the opportunity lies.”
The stores will have about 25 locations, and will include hardware and software stores, as well as digital wallets, Fenton said.
He said the stores are designed to attract customers who want to shop for bitcoin, and are expected to bring in about $300,000 to $400,000 a year in sales.
Fenton said that’s not a bad return on investment, but that it will be hard to keep a store open at any one time.
“A lot of people will want to come in and go to the store for a few days and go back and do business,” he explained.
“It’s just the logistics of it.
There’s so many things you have to worry about.
People have to go into a store and make payments, make purchases, pay taxes, things of that nature.”
He said that would be a tough thing to do.
“I think we are seeing a lot of businesses that have shut down, have gone bankrupt,” he noted.
“Some of them may have to re-open and reopen again.”
The store plan comes on the heels of a major shift in retailing in the GTA.
The Toronto District School Board last month launched a new program that allows students to pay with cash for things like groceries, laundry and school supplies, and is expected to create about $250 million in revenue by 2020.