Plans to bring The Brick furniture franchise to Whitehorse are in the final stages, Erik Hougen, owner of the now-closed Home Centre Plus business, confirmed Tuesday.

'Yes, it is our intention to bring The Brick to Whitehorse,' he said. 'When I say it is our intention, we still have to cross the t's and dot the i's.'

In the same breath, however, Hougen acknowledged he did not anticipate any problem concluding the franchise deal which is in the advanced stage and anticipates a Dec. 1 store opening at the Home Centre Plus location on Second Avenue.

'We are in the process of renovating the centre,' he said.

Hougen said discussions to secure The Brick business for Whitehorse have literally been going on for years.

The Yukon, he said, is in a unique situation with the additional cost of freighting merchandise up the Alaska Highway from Alberta and other points south.

Hougen said under the proposed arrangement, the local Brick furniture store will use the same advertising brochures distributed across Canada.

Yukoners will be offered the same price for a piece of furniture as someone in Toronto, Halifax or Vancouver, for example, he said.

Hougen noted, however, that there will be a northern shipping allowance (NSA) attached to the product at the cash register.

Discussions with The Brick headquarters are pegging the shipping allowance in the range of six to seven per cent, he said.

Nonetheless, he pointed out, Yukoners will still be buying a piece of furniture from the national supplier for less than anyone else in Canada except for Albertans when you consider the level of provincial sales tax paid in every province, except for Alberta and the Yukon, where there's none.

In B.C., for instance, the province collects 7.5 per cent on top of the seven per cent GST Ottawa collects across the board. Ontario collects an additional eight per cent.

And Hougen insists the added charge for a shipping allowance in the neighbourhood of six and seven per cent will not make up for the higher freight costs southern stores don't face.

In some cases, he said, some stores across the country are paying freight of $500 a truck, or $1,000.

Hougen said his cost will be approximately $4,000 a truck, or more, which he will have to absorb as the price of doing business.

The Brick has been firm that the wholesale price for the Whitehorse store will not deviate from the national wholesale price, in order to help offset the higher freight costs, he explained.

Evan Grant, manager of the local United Buy and Sell Warehouse, said Tuesday he welcomes the competition, as it gives potential customers a better understanding of the value offered by the United Furniture Warehouse chain.

'It's fantastic,' Grant said. 'We have no problem bringing another competitor into the marketplace.'

Dan Hogberg of Xpress Furniture and Mattress also said he has no worries with the new franchise coming to the city, and that it will stimulate greater interest by consumers who tend to shop around.

'They can't do any special orders, but we can,' Hogberg noted. 'So, what you see is what you get.'

But with access to a million square feet of warehouse full of Brick products, there'll be a lot to see, Hougen suggested.

He said as an independent furniture outlet like Home Centre Plus was, it was sometimes difficult to fill orders in a timely manner.

As part of The Brick franchise, Hougen added, shoppers will be purchasing from what he called the largest furniture supplier in Canada that provides everything from entry-level products to high-end furniture.

He doesn't think the arrival of the Brick will affect all competitors.

'The goal here is not to take out everybody,' he said. 'The goal here to offer customers the same pricing and product that you can get anywhere in Canada.'