Stores

Aldershot 23 | 124 Plains Road, Burlington, Ontario | Aldershot Plaza | Towers | 1962-63
Barrie 55 | 450 Bayfield Street, Barrie, Ontario | Bayfield Mall | Towers | 1980s
Baseline | 54 | 1980 Baseline Rd. Ottawa, Ontario | Towers | late 1970s
Bedford | 6 | 1658 Bedford Hwy.Bedford, Nova Scotia | Bedford Place Mall | Towers | 1978
Belleville | 25 | 540 Dundas St. West Belleville, Ontario | Towers | -
Bridgewater | 74 | 441 Ld Have St. Bridgewater, Nova Scotia | Bridgewater Mall | Towers | -
Bracebridge | 67 | 505 Hwy. 118 W Bracebridge, Ontario | Bracebridge Shopping Centre | Towers | -
Brantford | 40 | 410 Fairview Dr. Brantford, Ontario | Brantford Centre | Towers | -
Brampton | 46 | 400 Queen St. West Brampton, Ontario | This store later closed and moved to Hwy 10 | Towers | -
Cole Harbourv | 64 | 900 Cole Harbour Rd. Dartmouth, Nova Scotia | Colby Village Shopping Centrer | Towers | -
Chateauguay | 44| 15 Boul. St. Jean Baptiste Montreal, Québecb | Bonimart | -
Charlottetown | 71| | 670 University Ave.Charlottetown, PEI Charlottetown Mall Towers 1974
Collingwood 63 55 Mountain Road Collingwood, Ontario Blue Mountain Mall Towers October 21, 1980
Cyrville 42 1205 Cyrville Road Ottawa, Ontario Towers 1962
Dartmouth 64 Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Towers
Decairie 73 6855 Clanranald Ave. Montreal, Québec Decairie Square Bonimart Late 1970s|
Dixie 26 Dixie and Dundas Mississauga, Ontario Dixie Plaza Towers July 1961
Dufferin & Dupont 47 1245 Dupont St. Toronto, Ontario Galleria Mall Towers 1972
Finch & Warden 59 2900 Warden Ave. Toronto, Ontario Bridlewood Mall Towers 1975
Goreway 60 7205 Goreway Dr. Malton, Ontario Westwood Mall Towers
Greenfield Park 28 5000 Boul. Taschereau Montreal, Québec Mall Carnaval Bonimart October 5, 1961
Hazeldean 62 300 Eagleson Rd. Kanata, Ontario Hazeldean Mall Towers 1979
High Park 22 2290 Dundas St. West, Toronto, Ontario High Park Towers June 14, 1962
Jane and Finch 38 3929 Jane St. Toronto, Ontario Jane Finch Mall Towers - Click for current Google Earth view of store site
Kipling/Queensway 53 1255 The Queensway Toronto, Ontario Towers mid 1970s
Kitchener 65 700 Strasburg Road Kitchener, Ontario Forest Glen Mall Towers -
Laval 70 Laval Montreal, Québec Centre Commercial Deux Mall Bonimart late 1970s
London 32 1441 Wellington Road London, Ontario Treasure Island Plaza Towers 1961 Note 1
Metropolitan 24 7600 rue Viau Montreal, Québec Place Viau Bonimart October 6, 1961
New Minas 45 9121 Commercial St.New Minas, Nova Scotia Towers 1970
Niagara Falls 39 6777 Morrison St. Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls Plaza Towers -
Newmarket 66 Newmarket, Ontario Towers -
North Bay 58 1899 Algonquin Ave. North Bay, Ontario Towers -
Oakville 41 Trafalgar Rd. & Leighland, Oakville, Ontario Towers Fall 1969 Click for current Google Earth view of store site
Owen Sound 37 911 10th St WOwen Sound, Ontario Sunset Strip Towers May 1967
Peterborough 35 950 Lansdowne St. W., Peterborough, Ontario Towers Late 1960s Click for current Google Earth view of store site
Place Desormeaux 50 2877 Chemin de Chambly Montreal, Québec Place Desormeaux Bonimart May 19, 1971
Place Duvernay 51 3100 Boul. de la Concorde E\Laval, Québec Place Duvernay Bonimart mid 1970s
Place St. Jean 49 400 Boul. SeminaireMontreal, Québec Place St-Jean Bonimart -
Rexdale 43 2267 Islington Ave.Toronto, Ontario Rexdale Mall Towers - Click for current Google Earth view of store site
Riverdale 30 447 Carlaw Ave.Toronto, Ontario Towers - Click for current Google Earth view of store site
Saint John 52Prince Edward St.Saint John, NB Towers 1973
Scarborough 21 2650 Lawrence Ave. E.Toronto, Ontario Towers November 17, 1960 Click for current Google Earth view of store site
Sorel 68 450 Boul. PoliquinQuébec, Québec Bonimart -
Ste. Foy 29 2700 Boul. LaurierQuébec City, Québec Bonimart October 12, 1961
Ste. Roche 41 Ste. RocheQuébec City, Québec Bonimart -
Stoney Creek 31 640 Queenston Rd.Hamilton, Ontario Towers -
Stratford 57 1067 Ontario St.,Stratford, Ontario Towers 1961
Sudbury 48 100 Elm St.Sudbury, Ontario City Centre Mall Towers 1971
St. Catherines 33 366 Bunting Rd.St. Catherines, Ontario Towers September 14, 1961
Summerside 72 100 Water St.Summerside, PEIWaterfront Mall Towers 1974
Westside 34 2400 Eglinton Ave. W.Toronto, Ontario Westside Mall Towers -
Waterloo 27 70 Bridgeport Road EastWaterloo, Ontario First City Plaza Towers 1961.
Welland 36 1000 East Main StWelland, Ontario Towers
Woodstock 56 645 Dundas St.Woodstock, Ontario Towers

Thanks to Kevin K. for providing this store map.

Store List by District
Towers/Bonimart Store Locations (by district, as of April 1990)
[Ed note: Thanks to Bill Douglas for providing this list of stores by district.]

District 1
Dale Stoke, District Manager
25 Belleville
35 Peterborough
42 Cyrville
54 Baseline
62 Hazeldean

District 2
Al Waechter, District Manager
27 Waterloo
32 London
40 Brantford
56 Woodstock
57 Stratford
65 Kitchener

District 3
Bob Hogg, District Manager
23 Aldershot
26 Dixie
31 Stoney Creek
33 St. Catherine
36 Welland
39 Niagara Falls

District 4
Roger Delledone, District Manager
34 Westside
38 Jane & Finch
43 Rexdale
46 Brampton
53 Kipling & Queensway
60 Goreway

District 5
George Campbell, District Manager
21 Scarborough
22 High Park
30 Riverdale
47 Dufferin & Dupont
59 Finch & Warden
66 Newmarket

District 6
Al Hammond, District Manager
37 Owen Sound
48 Sudbury
55 Barrie
58 North Bay
63 Collingwood
67 Bracebridge

District 7
Jacques Valence, District Manager
24 Metropolitan
29 Ste. Foy
41 Ste. Roche
44 Chateauguay
51 Place Duvernay

District 8
Mike Sanfacon, District Manager
28 Greenfield Park
49 Place St. Jean
50 Place Desormeaux
68 Sorel
70 Laval

District 9
Art Peck, District Manager
45 New Minas
52 Saint John
61 Bedford
64 Dartmouth
71 Charlottetown
72 Summerside

Target
It was common knowledge that much of the Towers look was "inspired" by a major retailer in the United States - Target.

The red and white colour scheme is a good example. Even the overhead signing - nothing fancy, just a piece of wood, painted red with large white lettering - was the same.

Merchandising of department counters and checkouts matched closely Target's approach. Target's control of where and how merchandise would be placed was through the use of planograms. If you worked for Towers you KNEW what a planogram was!

Hypermarché

Claude Leduc writes:

It's my first time here, so wanted to offer a scan of a store Towers operated in Laval, Québec, in 1973, called Hypermarché. It was a combination of Towers/Bonimart with Food City in one building. Was corner St-Martin and Daniel Johnson boulevard at the time. Needless to say 3 years later, the stores separated into "Bonimart" and "Hypermarché". These days, this store is torn down...

Click for a larger view

Here's additional historical information about Hypermarché, or Hypermarket superstores, taken from Wikipedia, including a reference to the Oshawa Group:

Fred Meyer, which today are very large stores which combine a supermarket and a department store, opened its first one-stop shopping center in 1931. It included a grocery store alongside a drugstore plus home products, off-street parking, gas station, and—eventually—clothing.
In 1962, Meijer opened its first hypermarket in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1962, entitled "Thrifty Acres", and calling the format a "Supercenter", and in Europe by Carrefour, which opened its first such store in 1963 at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France.
In the Americas the format remained in regional use only until the late 1980s, however the Oshawa group introduced a hypermarket near Montreal in 1973.
More...

Going. Going. Gone. How much for a store?

Chain Date $Millions/Store Store Size (sq.ft.)
Simpsons 1979 14.01 50,000
Future Shop20017.025,000
Towers/Bonimart19903.667,000
Miracle Food Mart19903.425,000
Woolco19942.9120,000
Dominion19841.525,000
Zellers19801.265,000
K-Mart19971.285,000
BiWay20010.45,000

.
Other defunct Canadian retailers

Andrew's
The Arcade - St. John's, Nfld.-based discount variety store chain (1938-1995).
Ayre and Sons - Newfoundland-based department store chain. Once operated as many as 80 stores coast-to-coast (1859-1991).
Bargain Harold's - A 135 location Discount store chain based in Ontario with locations in Ontario, Manitoba and the Maritimes went Bankrupt in 1992.
Biway - Discount store based in Ontario, defunct 2001.
The Bon Marché - Independent discount variety store in St. John's, Nfld. (1919-1971).
Bowring - St. John's, Nfld. department store. Also national home decor store chain.
Bretton's - High end department store 1985-1996.
Consumers Distributing - Catalogue store 1957-1996.
Corvette
Creaghan's - New Brunswick department store chain.
Creed's - founded 1916, defunct 1991, high-end family-owned retailer.
Dupuis Frères - Quebec-based chain, symbol of French-Canadian commerce and pride.
Eaton's - Went Bankrupt in 1999, and acquired by Sears Canada. Defunct in 2002.
Freimans - Longtime Ottawa retailer, acquired by The Bay in 1972.
Fortin - In downtown Trois-Rivières, Quebec; bought by Dupuis Frères.
Greenberg - Merged with SAAN.
Horizon - Discount department store operated by Eaton's, 1967-1978.
Kmart Canada - Discount department store, usually in the suburbs, created by S.S. Kresge - sold Canadian stores to Hudson's Bay Company in 1997.
S.S. Kresge - Smaller, downtown locations.
Laroque's Department Store - 169-177 Rideau Street, Ottawa, Ontario. Catering to the Francophone community of
Lowertown - Closed circa 1970-1971 - Now The Mercury Court Building housing offices and shops.
Lasalle - Discount department store.
Letendre - On Saint Catherine Street East, Montreal; bought by CDS, then Eaton. The store closed after Eaton's expansion in the west. The building remains at the corner of Montcalm (NE).
The London, New York and Paris - St. John's, Nfld. department store chain (1916-1991).
Marks and Spencer - Closed Canadian stores in 1999.
Metropolitan Stores Ltd. - Sister chain of SAAN, stores later converted to the SAAN name.
Miracle Mart - Discount department store operated by Steinberg's, defunct 1996. Some stores acquired by Dominion Stores.
Morgan's - Merged with Hudson's Bay Company.
Murphy-Gamble - Ottawa store, acquired by Simpson's.
Ogilvy's (Charles Ogilvy Limited) - Ottawa-area chain, merged with Robinson's in 1980s, defunct 1990s.
La Compagnie Paquet - 6 stores in Quebec City area. Closed June 1981. Some stores acquired by The Bay.
Peoples - (1914-1995) discount store closed in the same time as its parent company Wise Stores.
Plazamart - On St-Hubert Street in Montreal.
Pryce Jones - Calgary branch of United Kingdom mail-order company, operated 1911 to 1916.
Pollack - In Quebec City area and Trois-Rivières - bankrupted in 1978.
The Right House - Higher-end department stores, last store closed in the 90's.
Robinson's - Southern Ontario chain, merged with Charles Ogilvy Limited in 1980s, acquired by Hudson's Bay Company in 1990s.
Royal Stores - Newfoundland department store chain (1895-1977).
Sayvette - Discount department store, defunct 1970s.
Sentry - Ontario chain of retail department stores. Chain closed in mid-1980s.
Shop-Rite - Catalogue store operated by Hudson's Bay Company in 1970s-1992.
Simpson's - Acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Simpsons-Sears Limited - Renamed Sears Canada Inc.
Spencer's - Western Canada, bought by Eaton's.
Le Syndicat de Québec - Acquired by La Compagnie Paquet in 1974.
Target - Newfoundland discount variety store chain (1981-1995) - never related to American company.
Towers Department Stores / BoniMart - Sold out to Zellers in 1990.
Walker Department Store - Galt, Ontario.
Wise Stores - Similar to Hart Stores.
Wood Brothers - Halifax department store chain.
Woodward's - Western Canada, defunct 1993. most stores converted to Zellers and The Bay.
Woodwynn - Junior department store owned by Woodward's, defunct 1993.
Woolco - Discount department store, usually in the suburbs, acquired by Wal-Mart in 1994.
Woolworth - Closed Canadian stores in 1994, though some became Woolco (such as the Whitehorse outlet).
Young Canada - Toys and children's clothes; around since at least the early 1960s.

Hudson Bay Company

The Canadian company has been founded 1670. Today Hudson Bay is in its fourth century of retailing business in Canada. Hbc's main channels include: the Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters, Designer Depot and Fields. All of these channels together offer more than 2/3 of the retail needs of Canadians.

It all started when two Frenchmen, Radisson and des Groseilliers, found a wealth of fur in the north and west of the Great Lakes. The two needed permission in order to explore the region. They contacted Prince Rupert, who was the cousin of King Charles II and were able to acquire the Royal Charter. In May 1670, the charter granted the Frenchmen the territory of Hudson Bay watershed to "the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson Bay."

In the end of the 18th century the firm decided to expand its activity due to competition. It opened a chain of posts that ranged along the river networks and end up in such cities as: Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton.

After the beginning of the retail era, Hbc steadily shifted their activity from ordinary posts into sales shops that featured a wider range of goods. 1912 started with an aggressive upgrading program within the company. In the end Hbc had six department stores located in Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon and Winnipeg.

In 1980 HBC rethought its priorities and decided to return to its main activity. It sold all non-retail businesses. In some time the company acquired: Zellers (1978), Simpsons (1978), Fields (1978), Robinson's (1979), Towers/Bonimart (1990), Woodwards (1993), and K-Mart Canada (1998) following in the tradition of Cairns (1921), Morgan's (1960) and Freiman's (1972).

Zellers faces deluge of U.S. hardballers
Canadian discount retailer faces increased competition from US firms

Discount Store News, Feb 20, 1995 by Jim Fox

MONTREAL - Zellers, a Canadian retailing institution since 1931, is in the midst of an intense mass-marketing battle but stands determined to remain Canada's leading discount department store retailer.

Facing an onslaught of invading U.S.-based megastore chains, Zellers is moving ahead, "confident that we have a time-proven formula that works," Paul Walters, president and chief operating officer, told DSN.

The Montreal-based subsidiary of Hudson's Bay Co. is giving customers "more value for their hard-earned shopping dollars," while spending millions on renovations and new stores, he said.

At yearend, Zellers added 12 new stores for a total of 292 from coast to coast. It also plans another 14 this year and 80 more by the end of the decade.

Canadian retailers are repositioning their businesses "to deal with an entirely new set of economic, competitive and consumer realities in the '90s," Walters said. "What we've learned so far in this decade is that the consumer in Canada today is quick to bankrupt retailers who are not extremely well-focused, efficient and meeting their value expectations."

The move into Canada last year by Wal-Mart, with the purchase of 122 Woolcos, "substantially intensified competitive activity in the mass market segment," Walters said.

Regarding the new competitive forces, Walters said: "The emergence of several U.S.-based power formats are just beginning to reveal their impact. [PriceCostro] is eating up significant market share. Aikenheads [Home Improvement Warehouse stores!, now The Home Depot, are redefining the DIY market with tremendous customer response. Electronic superstores, office-supply depots and sporting goods superstores, office-supply depots and sporting goods superstores are all looking to duplicate in Canada their success south of the border."

Zellers is building upon its position of strength to create more value for Canadian consumers committed to "low-price leadership that is stronger than ever." The company's positioning statement is "Zellers. . . Because the Lowest Price is the Law!" - a phrase well-known by Canadians.

The mass merchandiser targets the budge-minded customer with the assurance of the lowest price. The primary target is women 25 to 55 years old with a family, who shop frequently to satisfy basic or staple clothing and leisure needs. They have low discretionary income, require credit and are very responsive to price promotions. The secondary customer is the department store shopper with more discretionary income who buys only household basics or consumable-type merchandise at Zellers.

Its stores are characterized by self service and central checkout. Most are in shopping malls and the average size is 70,000 sq. ft., with new stores about 120,000 sq. ft. Although some analysts suggested the company is exploring a supercenter concept, Walters declined to comment on the possibility.

The Zellers merchandise strategy is to offer "narrow" but "deep" assortments in the low- to moderate-low price range for each category. Price ceilings are determined for each category to ensure that the offerings suit the target market. The strategy also embraces change and acknowledges that assortment modification is a never-ending process.

Stores are configured in a racetrack format that flows customer traffic through all major merchandise categories, with hard lines on the outside and fashion on the inside. Power displays and clear item/price message.

Zellers plays on nationalistic sentiments. It is positioned as the "truly Canadian" store working hard to give hard-working Canadians more for their money.

The highly successful customer-reward program, Club Z, has expanded with more rewards with the accumulation of fewer points.

Since its inception in 1986, Club Z has become Canada's most successful customer loyalty rewards program, now topping 8 million members. Zellers has issued 1.6 trillion Club Z points and redeemed several hundred billion points for 5.5 million gifts and services.

The value people place on their Club Z points is "particularly gratifying" to Walters, who noted some customers have included the points in their wills, passing them down to family members and carrying on the tradition of shopping at Zellers.

The company was founded on July 31, 1931, by Walter Zeller, who opened a small "Five and Dime" in Waterloo, Ontario.

From the start, Zeller positioned his business on outstanding customer value with a slogan: "Zellers ... Serving the Needs of Trinity Canadians." While agreeing the positioned today is "perhaps a little bit more aggressive," Walters said the underlying premise is still the same.

In 1952, Zellers stores became affiliated with U.S.-based W.T. Grant Co. and a period of expansion began over 24 years when more than 100 stores were added. Fields stores of Vancouver acquired control from W.T Grant in 1976 and remains part of the company today. Two years later, Zellers was acquired by Hudson's Bay Co., of which the Thompson family of Toronto controls 25%.

Fueled by the acquisition of the Towers/Bonimart chain in 1990, Zellers added 58 stores. In 1993, Zellers acquired Woodwards' 10 stores in British Columbia and Alberta adding sought-after retail space in Western Canada.

Despite the economic recession, Zellers had record sales, surpassing $3 billion ($2.1 billion U.S.) in 1993 for the first time as operating profits reached $256 million ($179 million U.S.).

In the third quarter of 1994, sales and revenue were up by 5.1% at $8.28 million ($5.81 million U.S.).

However, earnings before taxes were lower - off 23.2% or $15.2 million ($10.7 million U.S.) to $50.1 million ($25.2 million U.S.) - "due to reduced margins resulting from more aggressive price competition in the discount store segments."