Eaton's
Sign in to saveThe T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as '''Eaton's''', was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying-offices around the globe, and a mail-order catalog that was found in the homes of most Canadians. A changing economic and retail environment in the late twentieth century, along with mismanagement, culminated in the chain's bankruptcy in 1999.
~32 min read
Encyclopedic overview
21 sectionsContents
- Early years
- The Winnipeg store
- Overseas buying offices
- Canada's dominant retailer
- The Eaton's catalogue
- The Toronto Santa Claus Parade
- Decline
- Unsuccessful expansion
- Suburban competition
- Family mismanagement
- Bankruptcy
- Acquisition by Sears
- Legacy
- Architecture
- Timothy Eaton statue
- Unsuccessful catalogue revival
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Suggested reading
- External links
The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as '''Eaton's''', was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying-offices around the globe, and a mail-order catalog that was found in the homes of most Canadians. A changing economic and retail environment in the late twentieth century, along with mismanagement, culminated in the chain's bankruptcy in 1999.
Eaton's pioneered several retail innovations. In an era when haggling for goods was the norm, the chain proclaimed "We propose to sell our goods for CASH ONLY – In selling goods, to have only one price." In addition, it had the long-standing slogan "Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded."
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Eaton's” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.