Back rooms I get......although there is not a lot of that type of space.....but garden centres, auto service centres and the like are selling areas...they generate sales and they do get charged for that space. A key measurement of profitability of any retailer is GROC....and unless those areas are given by landlords for free they form a very important part of that measurement.
Garden centres generate revenue for 3-4 months out of a year, and that is it. They are not included in the total. The auto service centre is also not counted, as their earnings are reported separately internally. As for store size and type, we have less than 30 small market stores, and only 1 express store. The rest are our typical proto plan, which comes in 4 different sizes (A, B, C, D). Majority of these stores are C size, Only a few are actually A size. (Leslie/Lakeshore size) The exceptions are the special one off stores that I have already mentioned, like Bowmanville, Cambridge, Orleans, soon to be Sudbury, and Edmonton. These stores all include a Marks Work Warehouse though, so its not entirely Canadian Tire.
None of the special one-offs are anything different than a normal Canadian Tire though. They are simply the same format, expanded and including a store within a store. The Edmonton Flagship is a completely custom designed store with features and product that you won't find at any other Canadian Tire store. (Skating rink/bike track on the roof, Lego shop, permanent toy department, "Geek Squad" type service for DIY projects etc) If CT were to take over Target's Harbour/York location, I'm willing to bet it would go through the same treatment and be something unlike any other Canadian Tire store in the country.
You are right that there is not a lot of back room space though. There is also an initiative to eliminate back room space by designing the floor in a way that an entire shipment can be placed on the shelves, and not need to be stored in the back. If part of a shipment cannot make it onto the shelf due to capacity, that capacity issue is looked at, and home office either works with the vendor to reduce the minimum order quantity, or increases the amount of space in the planogram to fit the rest of the product.
From our own results statement:
Retail space does not include seasonal outdoor garden centre, auto service bays, warehouse and administrative space.
http://corp.canadiantire.ca/EN/Investors/Documents/2013 Annual Report.pdf
Also helps that Canadian Tire owns nearly 70% of its real estate, so relying on GROC isn't one of our key metrics.