Well living in Canada I can speak more easily on The Source, and I have to say the store is utter crud. You usually find them in malls, cramped into a tiny little room with random gidgets and gadgets. Some are useful, some not so useful. Poor selection is the mainstay regarding A/V eq, it seems to be more of a knick knack store then anything else, and a cheaped out version of the older Radio Shacks.
I agree with Chrisw1 though, hopefully this venture is successful. Competition for the other big box stores would be nice. I suppose only time will tell, but from my standpoint here in Canada, if they want to compete with Future Shop, or BB, they're going to need to increase the size of their stores, increase the variety and selection of products, and include a higher end area/section. Knowledgable staff would be a boon, as much as I like discussing a product to a goon fresh outta high school whos just repeating a bunch of crapola written down on a pamphlet and trying to get a sale, I'd rather speak to an informed salesman.
I had a recent experience at Signature Audio / Video in Stittsville, just outside Ottawa and I have to say I'm totally impressed. The guy I spoke with had been in the audio industry for years working for recording labels / etc, and he knew what he was talking about. He wasn't trying to force anything down my throat, he knew the products would sell themselves. He just offered advice based on what I already had, and where I wanted to go.
Last time I walked into a Futureshop and looked at a few TV's the sales rep was trying to dazzle me with how cool 1080i was, and how if the TV can display it all picture quality would be better... (sigh).
Well, one can only hope.