Recent from talks
Sears Canada
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Sears Canada
Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until 2018 and headquartered in Toronto, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company. ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada. Sears Canada operated 125 full-line department stores at its peak.
In 2016, Sears Canada had a network that included 140 corporate stores (including full-line, Sears Home, and Sears Outlet stores), 71 Hometown stores, over 900 catalogue and online merchandise pick-up locations, 69 Sears Travel offices, and a nationwide repair and service network. The company also published a general merchandise catalogue until the last quarter of 2016 and offered shopping online at sears.ca until October 19, 2017.
After filing for creditor protection in June 2017, Sears Canada announced it would close 20 full-line locations, 15 Home stores, 10 Outlet stores, and 14 Sears Hometown stores. The closings resulted in 2,900 employee layoffs. These stores officially closed on Sunday, October 1, 2017. In September 2017, Sears Canada announced the closing of 10 additional stores, in addition to the 59 store closings previously announced in June. On October 10, 2017, Sears Canada announced that it would seek court approval to shutter all of its remaining stores in Canada and lay off 11,240 remaining staff. The approval was granted by the Ontario Superior Court on October 13, 2017.
Liquidation sales began on October 19, 2017. The remaining Sears stores closed on January 14, 2018. Store fixtures and equipment from the closed stores were sold until January 26, 2018.
Sears Canada began its operations as Simpsons-Sears Limited, a catalogue and mid-market suburban retailer that was a joint venture between the Robert Simpson Company Limited, a Canadian department store chain, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. of the United States. In 1952, Sears Chairman General Robert E. Wood sent a letter to Simpsons President Edgar G. Burton, proposing a partnership between their two companies in order to serve the Canadian market. The deal to create Simpsons-Sears Limited, a Canadian catalogue and department store chain separate from the Simpson's chain, was signed on September 18, 1952. The new company would be a 50–50 partnership; Simpsons and Sears both invested $20 million and had equal representation on Simpsons-Sears' board of directors. The new company had two main objectives: to expand Simpson's mail-order business (which was sold to the new company) and to build a string of stores modelled on Sears' format across the country.
The agreement also contained a provision that would become a major challenge in later years. Under its terms, Simpsons-Sears could not open a retail store within 25 miles of Simpsons' existing stores in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Regina, and London. In return, Simpsons promised not to build any stores outside of those five cities. Simpsons-Sears' mail-order business, however, was free to operate anywhere in Canada, as was the new Simpsons-Sears Acceptance Company, the credit arm of the operation.
The business operations of Simpsons-Sears began when the first Simpsons-Sears Spring/Summer Catalogue was printed by Photo-Engravers and Electrotypers, Ltd. and delivered to 300,000 Canadian homes in early 1953. On September 17, 1953, the first Simpsons-Sears retail store opened in Stratford, Ontario; the second store opened in Kamloops, British Columbia in December of that year. In 1954, Simpsons-Sears opened Canada's first large suburban department store, in Vancouver – Burnaby, BC, based on new the modern Sears, Roebuck model, spreading across the U.S.
Simpsons-Sears introduced the slogan “We Service What We Sell” in 1955, backed up by a highly trained nationwide corps of service technicians.
Hub AI
Sears Canada AI simulator
(@Sears Canada_simulator)
Sears Canada
Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until 2018 and headquartered in Toronto, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company. ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada. Sears Canada operated 125 full-line department stores at its peak.
In 2016, Sears Canada had a network that included 140 corporate stores (including full-line, Sears Home, and Sears Outlet stores), 71 Hometown stores, over 900 catalogue and online merchandise pick-up locations, 69 Sears Travel offices, and a nationwide repair and service network. The company also published a general merchandise catalogue until the last quarter of 2016 and offered shopping online at sears.ca until October 19, 2017.
After filing for creditor protection in June 2017, Sears Canada announced it would close 20 full-line locations, 15 Home stores, 10 Outlet stores, and 14 Sears Hometown stores. The closings resulted in 2,900 employee layoffs. These stores officially closed on Sunday, October 1, 2017. In September 2017, Sears Canada announced the closing of 10 additional stores, in addition to the 59 store closings previously announced in June. On October 10, 2017, Sears Canada announced that it would seek court approval to shutter all of its remaining stores in Canada and lay off 11,240 remaining staff. The approval was granted by the Ontario Superior Court on October 13, 2017.
Liquidation sales began on October 19, 2017. The remaining Sears stores closed on January 14, 2018. Store fixtures and equipment from the closed stores were sold until January 26, 2018.
Sears Canada began its operations as Simpsons-Sears Limited, a catalogue and mid-market suburban retailer that was a joint venture between the Robert Simpson Company Limited, a Canadian department store chain, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. of the United States. In 1952, Sears Chairman General Robert E. Wood sent a letter to Simpsons President Edgar G. Burton, proposing a partnership between their two companies in order to serve the Canadian market. The deal to create Simpsons-Sears Limited, a Canadian catalogue and department store chain separate from the Simpson's chain, was signed on September 18, 1952. The new company would be a 50–50 partnership; Simpsons and Sears both invested $20 million and had equal representation on Simpsons-Sears' board of directors. The new company had two main objectives: to expand Simpson's mail-order business (which was sold to the new company) and to build a string of stores modelled on Sears' format across the country.
The agreement also contained a provision that would become a major challenge in later years. Under its terms, Simpsons-Sears could not open a retail store within 25 miles of Simpsons' existing stores in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Regina, and London. In return, Simpsons promised not to build any stores outside of those five cities. Simpsons-Sears' mail-order business, however, was free to operate anywhere in Canada, as was the new Simpsons-Sears Acceptance Company, the credit arm of the operation.
The business operations of Simpsons-Sears began when the first Simpsons-Sears Spring/Summer Catalogue was printed by Photo-Engravers and Electrotypers, Ltd. and delivered to 300,000 Canadian homes in early 1953. On September 17, 1953, the first Simpsons-Sears retail store opened in Stratford, Ontario; the second store opened in Kamloops, British Columbia in December of that year. In 1954, Simpsons-Sears opened Canada's first large suburban department store, in Vancouver – Burnaby, BC, based on new the modern Sears, Roebuck model, spreading across the U.S.
Simpsons-Sears introduced the slogan “We Service What We Sell” in 1955, backed up by a highly trained nationwide corps of service technicians.
Recent media