[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Hi. I started working at towers in 1985/86. My store was at the Westwood Mall. I had a sister and brother-in-law that worked for stores and became managers and went on to work at head office at Airport Road. I have to say as a company, and for the people that i worked with, it was a group that really cared about there work and the company. To this day I think the take over by Zellers was a travesty.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

WOW!!!!!!!!!! Can't begin to tell you how excited I was to find this web site. Towers was such a big part of our lives. We had a reunion a few years ago. I would love to see that happen again. I worked at several stores and head office for a total of 24 years. Would love to hear from anyone.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I worked for Towers Rexdale for 14 years as Dept. Manager Toys, Sporting Goods, Seasonal Dept, Hardware, Housewares. Those were great years. Known all the people I have worked with: Bob Hogg (Store Manager), Paul Nowland, Jim Drysdale, Greg Rambo, Dave Balfour, Mike Jubville and  Les Payton. Would like to hear from all of you.
 

Hi, I looked at your website and it's great. In response to your question about the French stores, well, they still called it Teddy Sac!

I still have mine and it was bought in Québec City.

"Teddy" is a first name and "sac" means bag.

So technically, they didn't have to translate it as it almost made sense.
 

In 1966, as a business school student at York University, I did a marketing paper on the phenomenon of “discount department stores”.

In the course of doing my research I came across Riteway Stores, Allied Towers Merchant (ATM), and The Oshawa Wholesale’s involvement.

Intrigued by what looked like an interesting and dynamic business, I wrote a personal letter to Ray Wolfe to inquire about summer student job prospects.

Within a few weeks I was sitting in front of Norman Pentecost, the corporate VP of Personnel. He told me that there were no openings at ATM but that there might be an opportunity on the food side.

Initially disappointed, I spent the summer of 1967 as a buyer’s assistant in the food division head office on the Queensway and another 8 years in various merchandising roles.

In the course of this work I had many discussions with people like Morris Osak about the internal, and inevitably friendly, competition between the two divisions.

 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Skimming some of the postings from many people about their memories of the stores, I came across one about the time "Fred and Barney" made an appearance promoting Flintstones Vitamins.

My brother, Jim, then about 5, I guess, was so excited that we were going to see Fred and Barney! We older kids knew the scoop that Fred and Barney were just regular people dressed up as the characters.

We arrived in the store and all headed off to look for Fred and Barney. About half way down the aisle, they rounded the corner and started waving at us. Jim took one look, let out a blood-curdling scream (trust me... BLOOD CURDLING!) and disappeared in the opposite direction.

Poor "Fred" and "Barney". They looked (as far as you could tell, because their faces were simply fabric-covered foam) downright shaken.

We found Jim sometime later, after a thorough search of the store, hiding under a clothing rack in Men's Wear.

I think what freaked him out was that what he had actually expected was not two huge foamy, galumphing things ambling towards him. What he HAD expected was two walking cartoon characters, 10 or twelve inches tall.... the real thing.

Those two Towers employees are out there, somewhere. I wonder if they remember this.
 

I can't tell you how surprised I was to come across your page on Towers Stores!

I used to work at the Carlaw Store (made famous by having two episodes of Degrassi Jr. High filmed there!) and the store on Lawrence Avenue East. I started working a the Carlaw Store as a cashier when they still had the gold and plain dresses... circa 1978/9. Then I moved to the Lawrence Ave. store, working in Stationery. Oh, those horrible, bright red polyester uniforms! "Do you work here?"

I remember once there were several of us just coming on duty and we were in a little group. This woman came up, looked at us in our matching red poly uniforms with the Towers logo patch and asked "Do you work here?".

I turned to her and said "No. We are actually a club that gets together to wander around stores. This is our club uniform...."

She looked confused, stuttered an apology and wandered off...

Every time a customer ever asked my in my retail career "Do you work here?" I think fondly of that moment.

Thanks for the wander down memory lane.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I just dropped in to say hi. My father, Francis Doyle, worked at Tower's in Charlottetown, PEI for many years...


 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Great Site...not too sure how I found it.

My father was manager of several Towers stores including St Catharines, Dixie and Owen Sound. While we were in St. Catharines, my brother and a friend set fire to the Towers washroom. He is sure to this day our father knew about it and awaited for the axe to fall when our father came home, but nothing was ever said about it.

I also have a more personal connection to the chain.

Because of my fathers connections I had my first full time job pumping gas at the gas bar. I eventually became a manger of the Jane Finch gas bar till 1973. Bob Browne at the time was in charge of the gas bars for Towers. He sort of took me under his wing and he became my mentor in a way. I always appreciated this and wish I could find out what happened to him and what is he doing now.

If anyone has any information about this it would be much appreciated.

His brother Dave was my best man and I have also lost touch with him.
 

I grew up shopping at the North Bay Towers, located on Algonquin Ave where the Sobeys/Zellers now sits.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Gord, if your still out here I would love to hear from you.

André
 

Hi there.

I passed by this website, did not know that such a good website about one of the department stores I roamed when I was a kid (and a teen).

I was 3 or 4 at the time, always did remember the local TOWERS store in St-Leonard, on Viau Boulevard close to Metropolitan (highway 40). I remember before the makeover in the beginning of the 70s (when It changed to Bonimart, never knew why), it had this giant façade with the TOWERS sign.

Next door was an IGA-Top Valu supermarket which connected with the said store. The other one which looked alike was the Châteauguay store (my paternal grandparents lived there), where as far as I remembered, I purchased a Corgi car with "THE SAINT" logo on it. Yep, the Roger Moore famous series was quite famous then.

[Editor:  Click here to read much more about Bonimart and Towers stores in Quebec. ]
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I happen to stumble upon this site via the FB Towers Dept. Store Group. Wow it is so good that people still remember the GOOD times. It has been a long time but to this day I still say the BEST job I ever had was with Towers. It is funny when you mention Towers how many people remember them and how they miss the stores.
 

I started at Head Office in the advertising/sales promotion department with Janet Robertson, Greg Rambo, Dave Stellar and Don Cameron then moved to the Mens & Boys Wear. The Boy's Wear group where I worked at the end of Towers consisted of Horst Schulz, Jackie Hughes, David Turner, Giles Charlesbois, Brian Weeks, Helen Di Filippo, June, Doreen, Blanche, Ronnia, Georgia, Glennis and myself. Age has caused me to forget a few surnames but I will never forget this group. I would love to catch up with anyone that remembers me.
 

I still use my Towers Cookbooks and miss the "family" we created throughout HO and all stores. The cookbooks were in house but they bring back memories and I use them a lot. My children who were born while at Towers use them too.
 

Some of the cookbook contributors will bring back memories for a lot of people. June Main (Ed Harsant's secretary), Madeleine Stewart, Susan Sutherland - Restaurant Division, Pat Tales, Marilyn Sword, Ron Ferguson (Houseware Buyer) just to name a few.

I actually worked right up until the front doors were locked for the last time. If you should need any further assistance with anything further please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kindest Regards,
Jacqueline
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I just discovered your web site on Towers/Bonimart.

My Towers/Bonimart experience started in 1968 at the Towers store in Cyrville (Ottawa) store number 51.

I worked part time in the camera and records department my supervisors were Marion Law and Iona Kenneally around 1970 I was asked to become one the of the six management trainees in Ottawa.

In the fall of 1971 a week after the opening of the Sudbury store 4 of us from the Cyrville management training program were ask if we would like to transfer to Sudbury.

A little background on why the request.

Sudbury had supervisors (department managers), a store manager and assistant managers (the assistants store managers where two brothers from the Maritimes by the last name Leblanc) from outside Sudbury the plan was to train locals to take over the positions in about 3 to 4 months after the opening but business was so over whelming that experience help was needed right away.

The four of us flew out of Ottawa and met the VP Mister Kennedy in Toronto and the fifth member of the group that was from Barrie at Head Office.

We stayed for a week in the Holiday Inn across the mall from the store .

- The Sudbury store the main department store in the new City Center mall in the downtown (the Eaton store was still in planning stages)

- The store was two stories with the flat escalator that shopping carts could go up (the same set-up that Rexdale had)

- The loading dock where underneath the building with access from Elm street. The reason I'm mentioning this is that when the first transport truck that used it was empty it could not get
out seeing it was taller so the tires had to be deflated to lower the truck. The problem was rectified when a layer of bricks was removed to enlarge the height of the entrance

- How busy was the Sudbury store remember its fall of 1971 and one hour before closing the day before being open 1 month, 1 million dollars worth of sales where made. The week before Christmas that year the buyers had to go out on a Saturday in Toronto to the different toy companies to get anything that was left because the shelves where empty.

I left Towers/ Bonimart in the spring of 1972.

I have great memories of my time with Towers/Bonimart organization the people I met the life experiences that I got.

These are only a few of the memories and stories that I have of my Towers/Bonimart years

I will probably EMAIL you again

Thanks for a GREAT WEB SITE

Michel Charlebois (Ottawa)

Retired

.Ex Supervisor of Fabrics, Notions and Home Furnishing Sudbury Store
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

WOW! It's amazing the things we can stumble on surfing around! I remember shopping at the Towers/Food City at Midland & Lawrence as a kid. I even still have family living there, so I've had the misfortune of seeing the evolution of that little plaza. With my retailing background and living my whole life in Toronto, I really appreciate seeing stuff like this. Great job, and thank you very much!
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I love this site. As a kid growing up in the City of York in Toronto, my families weekly shopping trip consisted of shopping at both Towers and Food City at Westside Mall.

I remember the routine customer bag check stand. First it was a "manned" station where you were given a claim number. Then when it took too long to find "missing" parcels, it was switched to a lovely girl in her red and white trimmed uniform standing at the entrance with dated coloured strips of paper to staple to the bags as customers entered.

I also remember when 70's singing sensation Bobby Curtola made an appearance at the Westside Mall Store. Unfortunately the enclosed mall no longer stands. It was converted to a big box format type plaza a few years ago.
 

Dave,

Very cool of you to send this [editor's note: radio commercial recording] to the Towers guy...

There was a Towers right over the back yard fence from my house when I was a kid (on Viau Street in Montreal). I think the name only changed to Bonimart sometime in the mid-70s (after someone bombed the place! I think the powers-that-be at Towers figured Bonimart might be a more "francophone-friendly" name, making the store less of a target for possible separatist/terrorist activities). That Towers location is now a Zeller's, by the way...

However, I was always more of a Miracle Mart kid (the department store that, I think, was owned by the late lamented Steinberg's grocery store chain in Montreal)... they had a pet department that sold actual live bats and monkeys. Can't beat that!

Best,

John Trivisonno
 

Hey there,

A friend in Montreal (hey, John!) sent me a link to your site. I must say that at age 40, my memories of Towers are fairly foggy. I do remember going to the one at Lawrence and Midland with my parents when I was really little, but we lived rather far away in East York. By the time we moved to Scarborough in 1980, it had seen better days but I think I must have gone to it during that time too.

Funnily enough, I now live about a 5 minute walk north of that first location (now a Price Chopper) in a neighbourhood built between 1958 - 61 called "Midland Park." It's a very Leave It To Beaver kind of place with carports and split-levels and big wide yards...good places to fill full of crap you would have bought at Towers, I guess.

Towers radio commercial (circa 1960)

I write a newspaper column for the Globe and Mail on housing and architecture and I often discuss this wonderful postwar era, by the way. I also work at venerable old radio station CFRB. In our rather limited audio archives, I came across this spot which aired before that Lawrence store opened. Voiced by Bill Deegan, I think. Love that "CBV". Anyhow, a little piece of radio history to go with your very good site.

You mention Woolco. I remember going there, too, but only because they had this big popcorn-like machine that made air-popped potato chips called "Flip Chips" that were very similar to today's Munchos in taste and texture...the only difference was you'd ask the clerk to shake on the flavour of your choice! Mmmmmmm, tasty memories.

Cheers,

Dave LeBlanc
AUDIO ENGINEER & "THE ARCHITOURIST"
Listen on CFRB Sunday & Wednesday
Read it in the GLOBE AND MAIL Friday
Astral Media Radio GP
 

I came across your site today and I have to say, what a trip! I worked at the Waterloo store from 1984 to 1989 and have some great memories of the place!

Regarding your store list, there were in fact three Towers stores in the K-W area:

Kitchener had two stores: one at Stanley Park Mall (I don't remember the store number off hand - could have been store #3 but don't quote me on that) and one on Strasburg Road (store #57).

Waterloo had one store: 70 Bridgeport Road East (store #27).

I've still got a bunch of photos of the Waterloo store, taken right after the "Store of the Future" renovation. Let me know if you want to post them on your site.

I remember when we introduced bar-code scanning at the checkouts - Towers was the first retailer to introduce this futuristic technology, which of course is now a standard thing. I worked in a couple of different departments but from time to time during a busy period I had to do cash register duty - this was BEFORE bar codes!

Being a guy, I was glad we didn't have to wear the polyester uniforms! The dorky red jacket was bad enough. We had a strict manager who was really picky about the dress code - had to be a white shirt, black pants, black tie.

Oh and don't mention the word PLANOGRAM! Nightmares! LOL! I worked in Electronics/Health & Beauty/Stationery and saw my share of planograms. Toothpaste, school supplies, camera film...

While I don't live in K-W any longer, most of my friends who I still keep in touch with all worked at Towers back in the day. Thanks for the memories!

Jeff Sutton
Chief Operating Officer, Audit - Russia and the CIS
KPMG
Naberezhnaya Tower Complex, Block C
18, Krasnopresnenskaya Naberezhnaya
123317, Moscow, Russia
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I worked in Towers at Lawrence and Midland for 15 years. My name at that time was Mary Baillie and I worked on the courtesy desk with Myrna Camilleri, Linda Duncan, Dot Beagan and Sheila Cox. I always took my break with Betty Mclean.

I loved working at Towers and think it was just like an extended family because everyone knew each other. Hope to hear from some fellow employees. We had a reunion a few years ago and I wish we could have another, soon.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

I worked at the Villager Restaraunt when I was 17 some 27 years ago. I learned a lot from a lady name Beryl and worked with Susan. I remember Towers for the midnight madness sales. The store I worked at was at Lawrence and Midland. We had McDonalds across the street and Burger King at the corner.

I remember we were having a big party and one of the girls working cash wanted me to go so much that she asked my mother to ask me to go. I had to close that Saturday night and not having any wheels, I did not make that party. I wish I did. Thanks for all the memories. Thanks for this site.
 

[Editor:  Ron worked for Towers in various positions for over 28 years, including General Manager and District Manager.]

The original Towers store was opened in November 1960 in the Scarborough district of Toronto. This store was actually the first discount department store opened in Canada.

The Scarborough store and 12 stores which followed within a year and a half, in Ontario and Quebec, were owned by a company called Towers Marts and Properties (Canada) Limited. This was a Canadian subsidiary of a United States company known as International Towers Marts and Properties Limited.

Towers Marts acted as a landlord only, and not as a merchant. All the space within Towers stores was "rented ". The merchants who operated the various departments were concessionaires. The concessionaire was wholly responsible for the procurement of inventory and the operation of the individual departments within the store.

Towers Marts was responsible for the management of the shopping centres and provided services as cashiering, building maintenance, advertising and overall store management.

In March 1963, the concessionaires formed Allied Towers Merchants Limited, and assumed the various property leases. From 1963 through 1966 the profitability increased tremendously.

In May 1967, The Oshawa Wholesale Limited acquired controlling interest in Towers and implemented the integration of Towers with Rite-Way Department Stores Limited.

COMPANY EXECUTIVES

William L. Atkinson (President & Chief Executive Officer)
Donald Beaumont (Vice President Marketing)
Edward Harsant (Vice President Operations)
Gordon Murray (Vice President Personnel)
John Share (Vice President Distribution & Warehousing)
Hugh Simpson (Vice President Merchandise Services)
Peter Davidson (Controller)
Wayne Cammack (Director Electronic Data Processing)
Robert Wilson (Director Loss Prevention)

When I was transferred to Sudbury in 1979 it was still under the name of Bonimart and the address is 100 Elm Street east Sudbury Ontario.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Worked at Towers @ Kipling and Queensway from 1980 to 1987 as a stock-boy and paint dept part time guy all the way through high school and univeristy on and off. Had a good time.
 

Hi there,

First I want to commend you for bringing back memories of the old Towers Department Stores that existed in Canada, I particularly remember the one in Stratford. Here's a few locations for your consideration of the old Towers stores...

Stratford: 1067 Ontario Street

Owen Sound: 911 10th St W (it was a Zellers, and I am pretty positive it was a Towers, because the in and out signs to the parking lot had the exact same font used on the Towers logo.)

Kitchener-Waterloo: Two stores, one was I believe in the Stanley Park Mall and the other was, I think 70 Bridgeport Street in Waterloo.

They sure don't have stores like they used to anymore, I will say that. Thanks for the website and the pictures they bring back good times when I was a kid! Keep up the good work.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Hello Folks;

Just reviewing some of the posted memories with respect to Towers. I worked at the Lawrence Avenue East/Midland Avenue store in Scarborough in the early '70s. I was part of store security. My partner was Rae Veniot. We had some great times.

Some people simply weren't satisfied with being in a discount retail store....they wanted to take the "five-finger" discount route. Even the odd police officer made it into our security office claiming "Oops..I forgot to pay".

I also have fond memories of working with great people. By the way, it's not an urban legend, the late John Candy did work at the store. This, of course, was before he became a big Hollywood talent.

I appreciate the contributions to this site and will check in on occasion to see if I come across some familiar names.
 

When I was younger, every Friday night my parents would go to Westside Mall (Towers) in Toronto/Eglington Ave. to shop, and we would always eat at "The Villager" Cafeteria I believe it was called.

But I still have a clear view of the place in my head. As depressing as it is now, The Mall was all torn down now in the past 5 years and made into an outdoor\outside mall. I could remember the exact layout of the mall top to bottom.

Did I forget to thank WalMart (YEAH RIGHT) for ruining everything great about Canada. ZELLERS will be next probably, along with many more.
 

Hi, the Niagara Falls store was at Dorchester and Morrison. I think the Welland store was on East Main.

Thanks!
 

Hi.

I love the site! Thanks for bringing back some memories. Just some supplementary info on your listing for Barrie.

1) The first two photos are actually of the 320 Bayfield Street (Bayfield Mall) location - not the 450 Bayfield location. The Bayfield Mall location was not a Towers for very long - it became a Zellers for a few years before closing. Once Zellers closed, the location was turned into a more general mall area (including a bowling alley). A much larger Canadian Tire was eventually built out from the Zellers/Towers footprint.

2) The third photo is the 450 Bayfield location, but I'm pretty certain that the photo is of the current Walmart that was built on the site years later.

3) The 450 Bayfield location was fairly unique and one of the original large stores on Barrie's "Golden Mile". It was a large building with just two tenants (Towers & a grocery store - perhaps Miracle Food Mart?). The odd thing was that the stores shared a fairly small, common entrance with a few children's coin-op rides and (perhaps) a smoke-shop type of kiosk. It always struck me as strange that they didn't have street facing entrances for either store or, of course, any windows!

Best wishes.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Worked in the Towers Dept Store in the Rexdale Plaza, biggest store-2 floors- with special escalator taking the shopping carts from one floor to another. watching the ads being filming in the Store, the one I remember most-- for rugs.. curtains etc..
 

My dad Gerald Albert, his father Irving S. Albert, his uncle Alan Albert, and his brother Harvey Albert were all from the original group that started this great chain.

He and his father sold their family business Albert's Hardware Stores to open the Hardware & Houseware Concessions at what used to be called Allied Towers. I have lots of great pictures of store openings that I intend on sharing later.

My father along with many other original concessioners, opened the 1st store on November 20th, 1960.

In fact, he went onto to physically open 47 more.

My dad started as the Houseware buyer and eventually was promoted to Merchandise Manager Houseware/Hardware/Pet.

My father left Towers in 1974 to become the Vice President of Kent Drugs Limited another great company owned and operated by the Oshawa Group. My father will be 75 this year and has since retired. He now works with me 5 days a week in the Import and Distribution business.

Can't keep a good man down!

More in the near future.

[Editor:  Click here to see more photos of the Towers Dixie store, circa 1963.]
 

Ely Segal, Vice-President in Charge of Merchandising and Advertising

Ely Segal went to Toronto from his home in Connecticut in 1960 to start the Canadian branch of the Towers Department Stores in 1960 in conjunction with Canadian president Ben Rosenberg. He was vice president and was paid per store opening, so I believe he opened 10 stores in the 12 months we lived there, from Ontario to Quebec.

I remember going to the recording studio to make the jingles, "Hey Look Us Over" in both English and French. My father's French classes in high school served him well. Who would have known!

Anyways, we lived across the street from the Rosenbergs on Strathearn Road in Toronto for one year, then returned to the home office then based on New York City. Then of course, by 1963 the American operation went bankrupt, but the Canadian one went on in glory to be eventually absorbed by Zellers.

My Dad has several stories about the hoards of people lining up hours before grand openings to get free stuff. The best story was that for one grand opening in Quebec, they were offering Spider Monkeys, yes, real Spider Monkeys, for either free or very cheap. Well, they were shocked that they ran out of inventory!!! Who would have thought...

Anyways, we had a wonderful year in Toronto before returning to New Jersey.

Take care

Don Segal

[Editor:  Don sent an electronic copy of an extraordinary document - the Towers Times from July 1962. Click here to see a web page devoted to it.]
 

There was a stage where the oversized characters (much like you would see at Wonderland today) sang and danced and told jokes. Funny...even at 4, I was still aware and yet slightly disappointed that they were only guys in suits...and not the real Fred & Barney. Just like when I fell asleep when my parents took me to see The Ice Follies featuring Snoopy. (It's not Snoopy, just some guy in a Snoopy outfit!!) But I enjoyed the show no less.

But I think the highlight of the Fred & Barney show was that they had Fred's Flintmobile car set up at the west end of the store and I got my picture taken in it. I still have the photo somewhere. If I can find it, and if you would like a scanned copy, I can send it to you.

Many years later, like 1977, there was a guy in my high school that used to have a steal-to-order Record shoplifting enterprise. Students (not me, I guarantee you. My parents would have put me under bright lights and attached electrodes to my armpits while they interrogated me where the record came from) would basically tell the shoplifter what record they wanted, he would go to Towers during lunch, and come back with the record (or 2 or 3) in the front of his coat, obviously a vocation only performed in colder temperatures.

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook. Email contact information can be found there.]

Great site. Hope to see some names I recognize! Worked in Owen Sound, Belleville and Kanata.