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Timeline

1960

  • Towers Marts of Canada brought the chain discount store concept to Canada in November of 1960. A crash building program would open 12 discount plaza units of 100,00 square feet each in just over two years. In Quebec, the stores went under the Bonimart banner.

  • The first store was opened at the corner of Lawrence Ave. East and Midland Ave. Each selling department within a Towers store was operated as a licensed concession.

  • Read Elayne Freeman's first hand account of opening day here.


1961

  • Eatons/Simpsons fight discount stores.

  • Talks are underway to open gasoline outlets at Towers Department Store locations. 

  • In the New York Times of June 10, 1961 it was announced that Towers Marts, Inc., of New York and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Towers Marts of Canada, had made a $25 million transaction for eleven shopping centers, seven of which would be in Ontario, two in Montreal, and two in Washington, D.C. The company then operated nine centers in the United States and one in Toronto.

 

1962

  • Towers Marts cuts strings with parent.

  • A new store opens (the third) at Bloor and Dundas Sts. On the opening day, the first 1,000 customers were sold silver dollars at 80 cents each. Seven sets of triplets, ranging in age from 3 to 24, took part in the opening ceremonies. They helped Ben Rosenberg, president of Towers Marts and Properties Ltd. fill a time capsule and photographs and newspapers. The capsule will remain buried until 2062. [Editor's note: I wonder what happened to it?}

  • Reorganized in U.S.affects Towers stock.

  • Donald Jaffey, the president of Allied Towers Merchants, said that centralizing warehousing, bookkeeping and inventory control will help streamline merchandising operations. 

  • Allied Towers Merchants Limited offers shares in this May 23 announcement in the Star. 

  • In November, 1962 Towers Marts International sold its Canadian subsidiary, operating thirteen stores, to a group of investors. The company also announced that it had withdrawn a proposed public stock issue of 550,000 shares owing to market conditions. The Wall Street Journal of February 12, 1963 carried an article stating that Towers Marts was in temporary financial difficulty owing to expenditures of more than $500,000 in connection with lawsuits against Grayson-Robinson Stores.

 

1963

  • Shares of discount department store operator Towers Marts and Properties Ltd. drop from a high of $9 to a level of $1 per share. 

  • U.S. Towers in Straits Financially.

  • Discounter Ben Rosenberg, president of Towers Marts and Properties store chain, announces March 6 that Towers is in receivership. Twelve of Towers' 13 stores are making money, he says. Attempting to cut costs, he announces that Allied Towers Merchants Ltd. has just taken over merchandising, cashiering and other in-store operations.

  • May give control to Allied Towers.

  • The Star reports on May 29 that Allied Towers Merchants suffered a $268,492 net loss for 1962. Three months earlier, Allied Towers assumed the merchandising functions formerly done by Towers Marts and Properties.

  • Bankruptcy trustee J.L. Biddell comments on the affairs of Towers Marts and Properties Ltd. "(They are) the most complicated matter I have ever been connected with." About 120 creditors consider a proposal that would keep the company in business. 

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1964

  • M.W. Book is elected president and general manager of Allied Towers Merchants.

  • Maxwell Goldhar is appointed president and a director of Towers Marts and Properties Ltd.

  • Sales of Allied Towers Merchants Ltd. in the first seven months compare favourably with 1963 figures. 

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1965

  • Oshawa Wholesale Makes Offer For Allied Towers Share Back (Montreal Gazette, December 4, 1965)

  • Oshawa Wholesale Ltd. and W. L. Atkinson, a director of Allied Towers Merchant Ltd., have made an offer of 60 cents a share for 753,750 shares of Allied Towers held under voting trust agreement by Towers Marts & Properties Ltd.

  • The offer is subject to approval of Towers Marts & Properties shareholders at a meeting to be held Dec. 13. It is conditional on tendering of at least 250,000 shares and will expire Dec. 15.

  • At last report Allied Towers Merchants had 1,731,516 common shares outstanding of 3,000,000 authorized.

  • Allied Towers Merchants operates on a rental and lease basis the stores of Towers Marts & Properties in Ontario and Quebec Towers Marts wnet into receivership in 1963. 

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1966-67

 

1968

  • In 1968 Oshawa purchased Rockower of Canada Ltd., a firm which operated the men's and boys' departments in 26 of Oshawa's Towers stores.

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1969

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1970

  • Oshawa Group appointments: William Sherman (senior vice-president, retailing), Stanley Lipson (vice-president, merchandising Towers) and Nelson Seltzer (vice-president and general manager, restaurant division).

  • The Richelieu Valley will have its first one-stop regional shopping centre... Place St. Jean, a $4,300,000 fully enclosed shopping complex, will contain a discount department store... It will contain a 66,000 square-foot Les Galeries Towers department store.

  • Towers rainchecks are all wet.


1971

  • Sudbury City Centre, with retail, hotel and offices developed by Marchland Holdings, opens. It is built around a Towers-Food City combination.


1972


1973

  • Toronto Star for October 5 reports that Eaton's, Simpsons, The Bay and Towers will be open for the Thanksgiving Monday. 

  •  In the October 27 edition of the Star, "a fight's shaping up over extended store hours."

  • In Canada, the Oshawa group introduces a hypermarket (department and grocery store together) near Montreal and calls it Hypermarché.

  • It was 268,000 square feet, with 60 checkouts and 3,000 parking spaces. It was not a success. These “malls without walls” have a high learning curve for their operators, particularly if they are going from food to general merchandise.


1974

  • Falsely accused shoplifter at Towers Brantford store awarded over $80,000 by the Ontario Supreme Court. 

  • Towers appointments: Robert Deardon (vice-president merchandising - hard lines), Iasdor Roitman (vice-president merchandising - soft lines), Gordon Murray (vice-president merchandising - personnel) and John Share (vice-president merchandising - distribution).

  • Multi-Malls opens in Blandford Square (just outside Woodstock) and in 1978 opens Norfolk Mall (just outside Tillsonburg).

  • A decade earlier, Towers/Food City combinations had proceeded Multi-Malls, with little trouble and little debate. But the Oshawa Group anchors were not accompanied by small stores in Woodstock (1968), Peterborough (1965), St. Catharines (1965), Owen Sound, Westminster (1967), Niagara Falls (1965), Brantford, Aldershot (1968), and elsewhere. Indeed, the Towers department store was basically a group of jobbers (independent merchants), so no more specialty stores were needed (or advisable, from a landlord perspective) under the Towers/Food City combination.

  • A blizzard of government restraining orders were issued against Multi-Malls: in the case of Blandford Square, one was issued for the wrong location and by the time the Provincial government noticed its mistake, Multi-Malls had its building permit.

  • Tests of one-size pantyhose finds snag.


1975

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1976

  • Towers Department Stores joins with Hudson's Bay Co., the Great Atlantic and Pacific Co. of Canada, F.W. Woolworth and Gambles to create The Retail Research Foundation of Canada - a non-profit organization that conducts quality, specification and safety tests on a variety of products that retailers propose to sell to Canadian consumers. 


1977

  • Former Vice President of Towers pleads guilty to fraud. 

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1978


1980


1982

  • Towers Head Office moves from Orfus Road to Airport Road in Mississauga. 

  • Kent Drugs Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Oshawa Group Ltd. operating under the name Drug City, buys the assets of Metro Drugs Manitoba Ltd. 

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1983

  • Ray Wolfe, chairman and president of of Oshawa Group Ltd., announces that sales have increased 11.7 per cent to $2.12 billion. This despite the lower profit from Towers Department Stores. 

  • Don Beaumont, vice-president of Marketing for Towers concedes competition for toy sales from Toys "R" Us will likely be something to be reckoned with. "We've watched them for many years and have developed a healthy respect for them but Canada is another market, another world. Many prosperous American businesses have moved to Canada and have not enjoyed similar success."

  • Larry J. Crystal is appointed General Manager of the Restaurant Division.


1984

  • Shoppers are advised not to shop at the Riverdale Plaza or Galleria Shopping Centre stores. The reason? If you want to cash a cheque there you are going to have your photo taken. 

  •  Oshawa Group profit is up. Towers Department Stores helps out.

  • Towers, and other retailers, remove fake 'Cabbage Patch' dolls from their shelves. 


1985

  • Receives $128 refund for troublesome bicycle.

  • Wayne Cammack appointed Vice President Information Systems. 

  • The Towers Department Stores unit of Oshawa Group Ltd. of Toronto is being more heavily promoted as a family shopping chain with a new slogan and campaign developed by Saffer Cravit and Freedman Advertising Ltd., also of Toronto. Photos of Towers employees with their families will support the new slogan, "We're part of the family," which will be used in fliers and on radio and television. Globe & Mail (Toronto, Canada). (Feb. 6, 1985)

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1987

  • W.L. Atkinson, president and chief executive officer of Towers Department Stores Inc. is named to the Peel Region's first Junior Achievement board of governors. 

  •  Max Wolfe, founder of the Oshawa Group Ltd., passes away. He was a grocer and businessman born in Lithuania in 1893 and raised near Newmarket, Ontario. At age 16, with $25 cash and a $60 loan, he bought a horse, wagon and load of apples and went into business. In 1914, he launched Ontario Produce Co. with his brother Maurice to supply army bases. The operation expanded to become known as the Oshawa Group Ltd. and at his death it included IGA, Food City, Dutch Boy, Towers Department Stores and Drug City.

  •  Tom Spayde develops prototype retail design concept for Towers Department Stores (Toronto) and led concept integration into Halifax, N.S. flagship location


1988

  • Towers looks for experienced retail department managers for "...our new 'Store of the Future' in Newmarket opening early 1989. [Editor's note: This store never opened.] 

  • 13 are charged in Towers store promotion - Police say at least 13 people knew they could splurge on big purchases without paying a cent. All of them had scratch-and-save cards which, when checked by the sales clerks, showed they had won a 100-per-cent discount and would get the goods free. 

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1989

  • William L. Atkinson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Towers Department Stores Inc. announces the appointments of Donald A. Beaumont as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and William Douglas as Vice President Marketing. 


1990

  • The October 4 edition of the Star reports that Woolworth Corp. of New York is interested in putting in a offer for Towers, despite Hudson's Bay Co. signed letter of intent to buy the 51-outlet operation from the Oshawa Group. 

  •  Globe and Mail article "A bidding war could erupt for the Towers department store chain run by Toronto's Oshawa Group Ltd." 

  •  The Toronto Star, on October 23, reports that "Oshawa, Hudson's Bay seal pact on store sale." While details are sketchy, a "definite agreement to sell its bargain-basement Towers and Bominart department store operations" for between $100 million and $150 million has been reached. 

  •  October 15 edition of Discount Store News reports that  "Zellers, Woolworth face off for control of Towers - Zellers Inc. and Woolworth Corp. bid for Towers Department Stores Inc".

  •  The November 5 edition of Discount Store News reports that “Zeller's parent gobbles up Towers - Hudson Bay Company buys Towers Department Stores Inc. from Oshawa Group Ltd., Zeller's Inc.” 

  •  On November 16, the Star reports that "Hudson's Bay to expand despite slump." 

  •  Zellers buys Towers/Bonimart from the Oshawa Group, 51 stores for $181.5 million ($3.6 million per store, or some $60 per square foot). Zellers buys another half billion dollars in sales and gets an 18 percent market share. President Paul Walters predicts Zellers will overtake Sears in 1991 sales. He also promises that Zellers will remain headquartered in Montreal ("Our roots are here; we wouldn't think of changing that"). Towers is doing some $90 per square foot. The Zellers marketing will bring most of the stores up to the Zellers productivity. [Ed. note. site]

  • Selling department stores (chart).

  •  Zellers clinches deal to take over Towers Hudson's Bay beats out Woolworth. Ross Cowan, retail analyst for Levesque Beaubien Geoffrion Inc., estimated the price may be up to $150-million. He described the sale as a good fit. "I think it's a great opportunity for Zellers." 

  • Donald A. Beaumont, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Towers Department Stores Inc., announces the appointment of Al Leblanc as Vice President, Operations. 

  • In a move that surprised the industry here, Oshawa Group said it is getting out of department store retailing with an agreement to sell its Towers/Bonimart stores to Hudson's Bay Co. 

  • Speculation is mounting that the giant Zellers Inc. chain is close to buying the Towers and Bonimart department stores run by Toronto's Oshawa Group Ltd.

  • Officially, at least, neither side will comment on the prospects for a deal or even confirm that discussions are going on. "I can't say anything about it," said a spokesman for Zellers' Toronto-based parent Hudson's Bay Co. 

  • 375 employees at the Towers/Bonimart office in Toronto and 55 workers at the Montreal office will be laid off Feb. 9, 1991.

  • The takeover of the Towers department store chain by rival Zellers Inc. will cost at least 430 people their jobs.

  • Zellers, a Montreal-based unit of Hudson's Bay Co., said yesterday that it plans to close the Towers merchandising and administration offices in Toronto and Montreal.

  • Layoff notices have gone out to about 375 workers in Toronto and 55 in Montreal. The layoffs are effective Feb. 9. 

  • Thomson Financial Mergers and Acquisitions

  • Hudson's Bay Co acquires Oshawa-Towers/Bonimart Stores from Empire Co Ltd - Detailed Transaction Report DOWNLOAD

  • Retail Business Holidays Act (1990) of Ontario originally prohibited most stores from opening on Sundays. However, there were many exceptions to these rules (for example, gas stations, convenience stores, tourist areas). Many store owners who opposed the law decided to open their stores on Sundays, knowing the fact that they were breaking the law.

  • In June 1990, Ontario Supreme Court found the Retail Business Holidays Act to be unconstitutional. As a result, Ontario had nine months of open-wide Sunday shopping, until Ontario Court of Appeal's reversal of the decision in March 1991.[15]

  • However, public opposition to Sunday closing continued to rise. Bowing to public pressure, the Rae government passed the legislation in June 1992, to permit Sunday shopping in Ontario.

 

1991

  • Discount Store News reports that “48 Towers due for remake.”  The March 4, 1991 article goes on to detail the conversion. John Urie, Zellers executive vice president, expects sales of the latest Zellers prototype stores "...to show double digit percentage increases." 

  • Toronto Star reports that "Zellers sees banner year, plans expansion" in its March 6 edition. Paul Walters, Zellers president and chief executive officer, says "We are not retrenching - not pulling back and waiting for the storm to blow over. We intend to dominate the Canadian mass retail market, pure and simple." The purchase of Towers increased Zellers sales by about $500 million, Walters said. Analysts indicate that the purchase grew Zellers slice of the Canadian retail market to about 18 per cent, from 15 per cent. 

  • The Toronto Star reports, on May 18, that despite the recession, "Oshawa Group gains after Towers sale." 

  • Donald A. Beaumont yesterday was appointed president and chief executive officer of K Mart Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of the K Mart Corporation, the third-largest American retailer. The new appointee comes to K Mart Canada from Towers Department Stores, a Canadian department store chain, with which he was associated since 1977, most recently as executive vice president and chief operating officer. He was the Towers vice president of marketing before that. Before joining Towers, he was with T. Eaton Company Ltd., one of Canada's largest retailers, for 20 years.

  • Zellers comfortable in tough retailing climate - Retailing Around the World: Endless Possibilities or Endless Problems? "...while successfully digesting its 6 month old Towers Department Stores acquisition--the 46 Towers stores it kept from the 51-unit chain have been fully converted to the Zellers format--Zellers was also cultivating new retail formats." 

  • Zellers chief aims to be # 1 retailer

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1992

  • Flea market flourishes where abandoned Bonimart once stood.

  •  Zellers loses money despite Zellers benefitting because it received discounts from suppliers to stock the 47 Towers-Bonimart stores acquired from Oshawa Group Ltd.

  •  Laid off Bonimart employees receive little known benefits from Quebec government.

  •  Oshawa Group uses surplus cash from sale of Towers stores to buy more IGA.

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1993


1998

  • Announced at Oshawa Group's General Meeting that two top executives will leave.

  • Oshawa said Allister Graham, chief executive officer, will retire in the near future, at which time there will be "an orderly change in authority at the senior level."

  • Jonathan Wolfe, president and chief operating officer, also announced his resignation, after it was revealed that he wasn't being considered as a successor to Graham.

  • The company said it has a short list of candidates to replace Graham, all of whom are from outside the company.

 

2000

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2004

  • Staples Inc. Names Edward C. Harsant As President, North American Superstores Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS), the office supplies and services retailer, today announced it has named Edward C. Harsant, currently president of its Canadian operation, called The Business Depot, Ltd., to the newly created position of president, North American Superstores for Staples. 

  • Zellers gives up on old Towers Sudbury.

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2010

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Last update:  April 3, 2025

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