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.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,364 |
26 Facts About Eaton's
2.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Eaton's conducted a large business in Western Canada through its catalogue.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,365 |
4.
Eaton's acquired a city block on Portage Avenue at Donald Street, and the five-storey Eaton's store opened to much fanfare on July 15,1905.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,367 |
5.
Many years, the Winnipeg Eaton's store was considered the most successful department store in the world, given how it dominated its local market.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,368 |
7.
Success of Eaton's helped revolutionize department store retailing in North America.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,370 |
8.
Until the 1950s, Eaton's promoted itself as the "largest retail organization in the British Empire".
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,371 |
9.
At a time when Canada's population was predominantly rural, often living in isolated settlements, the Eaton's catalogue provided a selection of goods that was otherwise unavailable to many Canadians, much like the Sears Roebuck catalog in the United States.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,372 |
10.
Some Canadians even purchased their homes from the catalogue, with Eaton's delivering to them all the materials necessary to build a prefabricated house.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,373 |
11.
At a news conference on January 14,1976, Eaton's announced that the 1976 spring-summer catalogue would be their last.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,374 |
12.
Traditional department stores, including Eaton's, commanded an ever-shrinking share of the Canadian retail dollar, as big-box stores, such as Wal-Mart and Zellers, and specialty stores expanded their shares of retail sales.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,375 |
13.
New Eaton's stores built since the 1960s were largely indistinguishable from other chain stores, further reducing Eaton's status as a destination store.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,376 |
14.
Once known for its superior customer service, Eaton's began to cut back on sales staff and training in an effort to trim costs.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,377 |
15.
In one particularly disastrous move, Eaton's moved to an "Everyday Value Pricing" strategy in 1991, which meant that all discounts and sales, including Eaton's famous Trans-Canada Sale, were eliminated.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,378 |
16.
In 1997, seeing the success of The Bay in higher-end retailing, Eaton's lured their chief executive George Kosich over to try to duplicate the strategy.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,379 |
17.
Eaton's had sued HBC for poaching several of its executives.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,380 |
18.
Sears Canada closed some Eaton's stores, converted others to Sears stores, sold others to The Bay or Zellers, and kept a number of downtown stores with the intention of relaunching Eaton's in 2000 as a more high-end, modern brand, with a lowercase "e" in a circle as its logo and a splashy ad campaign built around the colour aubergine.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,381 |
19.
New Eaton's was scheduled to open September 1,2000, but was pushed back three times, eventually opening November 25.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,382 |
20.
Consequently, Eaton's had missed much of the lucrative holiday season and opened with merchandise already marked down.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,383 |
22.
Eaton's transformed retailing in Canada, and its methods were eagerly adopted by retailers throughout the world.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,385 |
25.
Not all former Eaton's stores are architectural landmarks: the stores constructed from the 1960s onwards were typically architecturally inferior to their predecessors.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,388 |
26.
Eaton's was considering reviving the defunct catalogue with an online presence.
| FactSnippet No. 2,339,389 |