Canadian Tire will indeed be moving locations, as will a number of other longtime Whitehorse businesses.

Canadian Tire owner Daniel Charlebois said the national franchise has closed the deal for a large lot next to Wal-Mart, and has sent out tenders for the work.

'We are looking at early April, the first week of April, to open them and they'll be assigning the work in the second week of April,' he said in an interview Thursday.

He said there is some site preparation required, but actual construction is expected to start soon, with completion scheduled for early fall, to allow enough time for the store to relocate well in advance of the busy Christmas season.

If, for some reason, there are delays in the schedule and the move can't occur at least eight weeks ahead of Christmas, the relocation will be put off until early next spring, Charlebois explained.

The new store, he said, will be 2 1/2 to three times the size of the current location, with an estimated size of 100,000 square feet, including both retail, automotive and warehousing areas.

'I went to Ontario to look at some of these stores to see what they look like, and it just blows your socks off,' he said. 'It is just really, really awesome, and we are looking forward to it.'

Charlebois said the number of part-time and full-time staff is currently running at 75 to 80 employees. He suspects that number will jump to somewhere between 96 and 120, not including the additional requirements for the summer season.

Staff are currently providing input into how the new layout should look, as there is some flexibility to provide for regional flavour, he said.

In the Yukon, for instance, one might expect to see a larger section for hunting and fishing goods, but not so much for the swimming pool section.

The owner of the Canadian Tire said there are discussions ongoing to secure a new tenant for the Ogilvie Street location once the move occurs, though it's too early to say anything beyond that.

The Bay occupied the premises before Canadian Tire took over the building.

Meanwhile, Metro Chrysler has also announced a move from Ray Street to the Chilkoot Centre this summer. Owner Nathan Lam was out of town and not available to comment.

But a sign at the bottom of Two Mile Hill says the business will be moving to a new location at the Chilkoot Centre.

As well, Bumper to Bumper and the Checker Flag Recreation are leaving their Ogilvie Street location and moving into the Metro Chrysler building, owner Chris Smeeton confirmed this morning.

'We just need more space,' Smeeton said. 'We outgrew this place five years ago.

'Its pretty hard to have product if you do not have the room to show it. People don't like to buy out of a brochure, they like to sit on it.'

Smeeton said he is targeting Aug. 15 to open at the new location.

Even a cornerstone of the Main Street retail business, Erik's Audiotronic, is in the middle of a move to a new Alexander Street location next to the Sears outlet.

Erik Hougen said today he owns that piece of property, and part of the decision was to pay himself rent, and not the family, which owns the Main Street location.

But nobody was upset, he said. The corner location is prime storefront that has already being taken up by Seasons Fashions.

Most of all, however, was the desire to build a state-of-art electronic retail outlet, Hougen explained.

'And to do that, you pretty well have to start from square one,' he said.

'It is hard to leave Main Street.... But we are moving into 5,000 square feet of brand-new, purpose-built building.'

To achieve what he wanted to would have meant closing down the Main Street location for two months, he said, noting that Sony will also be building a state-of-the-art store inside the new Erik's a 'store within a store.'