I was in the Woodstock, Ontario Zellers (645 Dundas St.) last month and noticed the sign from the pharmacy still used the Towers script. I guess they never bothered to change it.

[Editor's note:  I don't recall a pharmacy in any Towers store.  Closest thing was Drug City run by parent company the Oshawa Group.]
 

I never worked there, but have the fondest memories. I got my first bike from Towers in 1981, and most my toys like Transformers, Star Wars, etc. I remember having lunch there, and even getting haircuts from a guy named Gus. I wish they would come back, cause, those were the best day's, and staff were super friendly, unlike department stores today which have people that don't care about their jobs. Thanks for all the great memories.....John

What a blast from the past. Thanks for that. The sign alone…..just----WOW. Mariel.

[Editor:  These messages arrived via the Towers Facebook.]

May 8
The Place Laurier store was remodeled in 1967 with a second floor over and did probably incorporate the "A&P" in the back and merge the buildings all together. The recent pic (this is my creation) was the second entrance of Towers at the time (this is where the restaurant was) and was I believe the gap between the Towers and A&P before 1967.

A&P did not want to join Place Laurier, so Dominion took the space and it was their second store at the mall (not a new thing: in Laval, we had a shopping center with 2 Steinberg's at one time !). Dominion close by the end of the 70s to become a bus depot, then by end of 2000, was the Zellers extension of the former Towers space.

And reminder: this was the only "Towers" in Quebec which was not renamed "Bonimart", even when Zellers took over !

About the ads, I am still making some hunt for archives, will soon get a print of the first Towers store in Montreal: the fated Greenfield Park, which became later the Mercado, and then torn down for a "Home Depot" and "IGA"...

May 6
This is what looks like the former Towers at Place Laurier in Quebec City. In 1967, Place Laurier decided to build a second floor over the store and was completely remodeled. The A&P section became a Dominion store (on the left side...) photo

May 5
Picture of the Place Laurier Store taken in the 60s by some tourist. We see clearly the store and even a A&P... photo

May 4
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 "Bo...nimart" and "Hypermarché". These days, this store is torn down...
 

I was wondering if anybody knows where Bruce Thorpe is now. He worked with me at Towers of Rexdale during the grand opening along with Bob Clubley and our store manager was Bob Hogg. I would really appreciate any help in finding him.

 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

I work in the Bonimart ( place St-Jean ) #49 . from june 1980 to 1990 it was my first job and i keep good memory's of it.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Came across this site this evening and really enjoyed some of the articles and names as a reminder of a great time in retail. I worked in the Welland location while still living in my hometown of Welland. Transfered to Collingwood and worked with Mel Rinehart as general manager for the store opening there. Worked with a number of good people at each location.

I also worked at the St.Catharines store. I originally worked in the Welland store than moved to St. Catharines and worked there. Then I moved to Collingwood to open that store as it was built, working with Mel Reinhart as the G.M.

After a few years with Woolco Catalogue stores I eventually moved to Owen Sound with Canadian Tire. Have been here for the last 25 years in store management thru many store changes and renovations. Thanks for this site and the memories it provides.
 

Background on Bob Hogg

Bob was a good friend and I miss him, Bob passed away a couple years ago...way to young. He came to Towers via Riteway I believe.(before my time) I first remember him as the opening store manager in the Brand new superstore in Rexdale 43, It was a gorgeous thing back in 1970/71 He managed Aldershot for a time but I can't remember if it was before or after Rexdale. I know he was in the buying office for a time as Record Dept Buyer and I think ran Gas Bars for Oshawa Group as well for a time. He spent a lot of time as District Manager in Toronto west side and the Golden Horseshoe stores. I know he was my boss as DM in the early 80's in Owen Sound & Collingwood
 

Background on Al Hammond

Came to Towers from Woolco (east coast I think) in abt 1971/2 I believe he was an assistant manager in Rexdale 43 to start and was promoted to manager in spring of 1973 in Owen Sound 37. Al and I worked together in Owen Sound til he was transferred to North Bay 58 in 1979. He stayed in North Bay as manager until he was promoted to District Manager in 1982/3 and was responsible for the five stores of Sudbury, North Bay, Barrie, Collingwood and Owen Sound Later Bracebridge I believe he is retired in North Bay these days. Al if you read this drop me an email sometime
 

my first job was in the snack bar Brampton Towers, 70's met many wonderful people there, including first husband sadly like towers it didn't last. Great Times

worked Towers Snack Bar in the 70’s Brampton, Ontario currently live in Fort Erie Ontario. Was at one time married to Armando Fernandes who also worked at Towers the same time.

I am looking for Terry Baxter (Blanchard) and Corrine Thurber also worked at Towers the same time
 

Hello:

Do you have any information on Hugh Simpson who worked in the 1970's as an Executive with Towers? I would very much like to have his e-mail address. Thanks for any info that you might have.

Sharon (DiGiorgio) MacDonald

[Website admin note: Sorry. I don't have contact info. Perhaps one our visitors might.]
 

My name is Mike Burke. I worked in the North Bay Store from 1975 to 1980 (Bryan MacDonald & Al Hammond were Store Managers), the Collingwood Store from 1980 to 1984 (Mel Rhinehart was Store Manager), Niagara Falls in 1984, & 1985 then back to the North Bay Store from 1985 to 1991(Ken Zimmerman was Store Manager). I had some great times in all these stores. It was a fun place to work.

I have a picture of a training session held in King City in 1984 or 1985. How many people can you recognize? The managers in this training session were from the Niagara Falls region, and were mostly Trainees and Assistants. The Head office and training staff most of you know.

Also here is a copy of an old Check Cashing Card.



It's good to see a lot of old names.

Thanks for the great site. Mike Burke
 

Hi. Edie Andrews just sent me the info for this site...I am still laughing and sad at the same time. What an amazing organization Towers Dept. Stores was!!! We still talk about it today and I could actually recite all the stores by number & name. #25 is Mike Waddell...he was the hardware buyer and I did my 1st assistant buyer training under him on Orfus Road....he left and John Thiessen replaced him. I also just posted my info on the guestbook. Thanks for the memories.

I just remembered who #19 is.....Earl Wilson...he was the store manager of store #59 Bridlewood Mall.

Sincere regards
Jackie
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

I worked at Towers H.O. for 18 years (19 years old - to 37) before we were bought by HBC. I loved working there... it gave me the exceptional training and opportunities that have followed me for my entire career. Doug Waddell (Home Furnishings DM )was the greatest influence any young buyer could possibly have in their early career. I went to The Bay after Towers and then to K-Mart Canada/Zellers where I have been for the last 18 years. I was so fortunate to have the privilege to grow up in the Towers family and still to this day I credit that time for making me the business person I am today. Thank you to everyone at Towers. We were the best.
 

I visited the history room at the London Public Library and looked through yellow newspaper clippings to find that the Towers store in London opened on November 16, 1961. Stores in Hamilton and Waterloo also opened in the fall of 1961.

Among the features of the new Towers store in London was a 40-seat cartoon theatre for children to watch Bugs Bunny and Popeye while their parents shopped.
 

I wrote you a while back about there being a Towers cargo trailer still in circulation near me - but I had lost track of it after it moved.

Well, I rediscovered it again... not too far from where it had been previously.

I'm attaching a couple of pics here.

Cheers!
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

I worked at Towers (Scarborough store - Midland and Lawrence) for 1986 to 1987. I had great times working there with those red uniforms....

Looking for old friends Denise Koch, Dave Kerr, Carrie and others who worked there around 86-87. Worked as a cashier and customer service ..
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Worked p/t as a stock boy at the Aldershot store from 1976-77 before my family left Burlington. Good people, good times, fond memories.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

I worked for two periods with Towers, first for Hugh Simpson on Orfus Road from 1965 until 1972 and then for Don Beaumont from 1979 until 1984, then from Airport Road to return to Nova Scotia. From that executive office, I'm now "retired" and living on a farm where we raise Highland beef cattle and are very active in the local Cape Breton (North West Arm, Cape Breton, NS) Farmers' Market!
 

Hi there, I found your website while searching information on Towers stores, I have been looking for a Towers uniform, just the top (shirt) would be enough - but I can't seem to find anything. I was wondering if you might have some ideas?
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Hello. I worked for Rockower of Canada and then Towers from 1965 til 1977. Those were 12 terrific years. I started as a stock boy and worked my way up to childrens' wear buyer at the Montreal head office. I remember all the many persons I worked with. It would be nice to hear from those who remember me. I have worked in different branches in the retail industry. I am now retired and the proud grandfather of 2 beautiful girls. My wife and I do a lot of travelling. I will always be grateful to Rockower and Towers for giving the chance to learn English. It has served me well. Hope to hear from some of the old gang.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Great to see lots of familiar old names and the list growing, will check in more often. Have been living in the Laurentians for 12 years. Great skiing, golf and fishing.
 

Hello,

Your website about the history of Towers Department Store is excellent! I am interested in retail history as well and I’ve done quite a bit of research myself.

I found some more complete Towers store information for you to add to the listing on the ‘stores’ tab of your website. In the attached Excel spreadsheet, I have added more complete addresses, shopping centre names, and store opening dates in red. This information is from two sources: the Canadian Directory of Shopping Centres and the Directory of Discount Stores. Older volumes of these directories are available at a limited number of university libraries.

I am also attaching a PDF file of a map that I created of the Towers locations that you can use on your website. If you are interested in adding Google Maps to your website, I can provide you with the Longitudes and Latitudes of each of the Towers locations.

Here’s one more research source you might want to check out. The Ivey Library at the University of Western Ontario in London has an excellent collection of historical annual reports, both in print and on microfiche. Here is a link to their website: www.lib.uwo.ca/programs/companyinformationcanada/cdnarf.html

Great work with your website. I will let you know if I find any additional information.

Kevin
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

The first job I ever had was at Towers Department Store in London, Ontario during high school (1981-84). Lots of great memories from that time. Thanks for setting up this great website.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Great memories at Décarie Square with Jacques Valence.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Great site!!! Would love to hear from people who worked at Cyrville 42. I worked there from '73 to '90 when it changed to Zellers. I remember actually looking forward to going to work - great bunch of people!!! We worked hard but had fun doing it!
 

I was a Towers security person when Towers opened in Brantford. Ken Balkwell was the regional boss and I am looking for an co-worker named Judy. She was a great and cheerful partner but due to memory loss I can not remember her last name. I would love to know what she is doing now but I realize that it is over 35 years ago. Any help would really be appreciated - last name etc.
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Has anyone seen Dan Russell he was Assistant Manager at Dixie/Dundas back about 1992?
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

WOW! What a walk down memory lane this has been. So many names that I recognize and people I've thought of over the years. Towers was a family and I was proud to be a part of it from 1980 - 1990. BTW, Gordon Murray is living in Toronto. If you'd like to contact him, I'll pass your info along. Just got in touch with Sim Ozel and am looking forward to hearing from Denise Miedzinski soon through 'linkedin.com'. I'm available there to connect, as well. Cheers All!
 

Hi there whoever you are (who are you?)

I've managed to identify 3 people in your buyers training photo.

#7 = Tony Kwakkenbos, Director Finance

#15 = Iona Fevreau, Store Manager Toronto area ... Son is Rick Forget who was an asst manager Toronto area, now both here ... http://www.haliburtonhighlands-remax.com

#19 = I know this guy and the name will bubble up at some point. He was a store manager in the Toronto area. When it comes to me, I'll get back to you. In the training dept we used him a lot as a group trainer in the Leadership Workshop ... Hmmmmmm

Thank you for setting up this site. It's wonderful even just to see all those names and have the memories come flooding back.

Cheers!

Leni Wieder
Was also Leni Jensen
Is now Leni Hoier
(can't seem to find a name I like!)

I started with Towers as a Training & Development something-or-other under Michelle Ball (Darling) and Gordon Murray. Worked a lot with Ted Smith who's still kickin'. Left in 1990 as Director, HRD & Employment and went over to Dutch Boy as Director HR for 4 years.

P.S. Bloody hell .... Now I'm thinking it was Iona Hickson. Maybe she's like me and couldn't find a name she liked. :) I know that she did marry Don Fevreau because I introduced them. She then left Towers (after many years) moved to Harcourt, Ontario (near Bancroft) because that's where Don had a real estate agency. Don passed away some time ago but Iona and her son Rick have kept the agency going.
 

Hi!
Just out of curiosity, I entered "Towers" in Google search and came upon your website. Amazing...to see that the Towers name lives on after all these years.

I am Michael Balz and I worked at Towers of Rexdale from 1975 to 1978 and I worked for Bob Clubley! During my years at Towers, I worked mainly in Hardware and Pets. It was my great first job, as I was only 17 when I started.
In 2000, I moved to Cancun, Mexico and having been living in paradise ever since.

Let's hope more of our alumni join up! Thanks for having this site.
 

My name is Art McGaughey. I worked for Towers for 17 years. It was a great time.

I started in store 48, Sudbury, which was known as Bonimart. I was then transfered to store 34 Westside. My manager in Sudbury was Milt Roley. My manager in Westside was Jimmy Parsons.

I transferred back to back to Sudbury and then to store 58 where I worked with Al Hammond. When I transferred back to Sudbury the manager was Al Leblanc who became VP of stores. Also worked with Ron Chenier. I noticed a lot of names that I remember like Myrtle Churchill from store 34. Morley Whittle.

I enjoyed my time and when Zellers took over I was transferred to Ottawa to store 21 Cyrville. Worked with Wayne LaBrash for a while before he left. I knew a lot of people in head office as I used to buy fishing equipment for the store in North Bay - Tillie Goldberg, Sammy Sing, Dave Bowyer. There are so many names to remember. Joanne Porter. Karen in toys.

I left Zellers 14 years ago and now own my own store in the town of Embrun outside of Ottawa. It is a small store of 20,000 square feet and I still love retail business. I likely would still be working for Towers if they hadn't sold it to Zellers. It is surprising how two companies can be so different .

The store I own is a Giant Tiger and it is just like being back at Towers. Lots of fun and a enjoyment that you all had at Towers. Thx for starting up the site. I can be reached at mgrstore052@gianttiger.com hope to hear from you.
 

Do you remember Dale Stokoe, the district manager for Belleville, Peterborough, and the Ottawa stores? A great guy. He passed away March 28, 2004 in the Peterborough area at the age of 79. He leaves behind his lovely wife Cheryl who was always so pleasant to talk to and two sons Glen and Grant. At one time he worked under another old trooper Max Solar. Does anyone remember Max, who was another great person from the early days of the Towers chain?
 

The attachment is the official list of Stores still open on April 1990. They are listed by district indicating their district number, the District Manager name, the individual store numbers and the Town/City they were located. If you need more just ask. [Editor: Download]
 

[Editor:  This message arrived via the Towers Guestbook.]

Great site. Brought back fond memories of my childhood perusing the toy aisle while my mum shopped.
 

Wasn't Towers featured in an episode of Degrassi Junior High? Two characters were caught shoplifting there. Love the site by the way. I saw one of the registers in an opening day photo on your site...so very different from the registers today. And I could not imagine having to calculate tax manually. Too much of a nightmare..lol

[Editor:  Yep. Towers was featured in two episodes.  Here they are.]
 

I worked in the Peterborough store all through the seventies. I ran the shoe dept there that was a a leased department owned by Morse Shoe Inc. I would like to here from the old gang. Great memories.
 

Hi, I noticed you were looking for information when the P.E.I. locations were opened. I can tell you that both locations - Summerside & Charlottetown were opened in 1974 (when both malls were built, according to some history that I had from newspapers and talking to people who worked there).

Summerside was located in the Waterfront Mall, now called Waterfront Place. Charlottetown was located in Charlottetown Mall (this location was converted into Zellers in 1991).

Summerside's location became a Zellers from 1991-98 It closed and was converted into more specialty shops space. There was another Zellers in place at County Fair Mall since the 1970's and is still open.
 

I will always remember working at Towers with fond memories. A great bunch of staff. I was lucky to have worked at a few stores including Brampton, Dixie, High Park, Rexdale, and Sudbury. Those were the days. Bruce Downey our store manager at High Park was like a father to all of us. Sudbury stores grand opening was the craziest I will remember.
 

My father, Gerald Albert, passed away on August 17, 2009.

He was my best friend. He was the last surviving family member that formed the Hardware/Houseware concession at Allied Towers.

The original family consisted of Irving Albert, Allen Albert, Harvey Albert and Gerald Albert.

[Editor:  Read more here.]
 

I moved to Peterborough, Ontario in 1993 when I was 15.

For all intents and purposes, the Towers store in Peterborough was still a Towers - despite the the Zeller's takeover.

The store still had all the Towers livery inside and out. Big Towers sign on the building. A water tower (fake or not, I have no clue) with Towers on it.

My recollections of the store are good.

Eating in the diner - which had really good food and service. Browsing the Home Video racks. Playing the Street Fighter II arcade came that was in the entrance way.

It wasn't until late last year (2008) or early this year that the last traces of the Towers brand was removed from the store - a Towers delivery trailer from an 18-wheeler had remained parked near the rear loading bay for the now Zeller's. I'm kinda sad that I never took a photo of the trailer (I'm a photographer by trade) 'cuz whenever I
walked past it, I both chucked at the anachronistic quality of it and also felt pangs of nostalgia.

If anyone out there has some good photos of the Peterborough store when it was still Towers, I would appreciate seeing them.
 

I started my career in a car wash in Quebec. In 1984, Guy Robichaud from Bonimart warehouse, approached me about a job in the packing department on Rockland Blvd. In 1989 I took a truck driver course. I drove for Towers/Bonimart from 1989 until 1991. I met wonderful people in the warehouse and at all the stores that I visited for some boxes delivery.

My name is Stephane Joly and I would like to thank Towers/Bonimart to start my life at 17 years old and for giving me me that opportunity and for the life that I have today.
 

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

Hi. I worked for Towers for approximately 20 years, mostly in 021(Scarborough). I'm now in Newmarket with Zellers. I often think about the people and where they are now.
 

One of my long time friends pointed out this website to me and I have gone over it at least three times now and I'm glad to see more and more people are writing in and sharing their fond memories of Towers. Reading over all of the E-mails I must admit to remembering at least 95 percent of the people who wrote them and they each bring back so many great memories. It certainly was by far the best Company I ever worked for. I felt as if we were all one big family trying to achieve the best results we could.

A very brief history of my tenure at Towers is as follows 1964 to 1989.

I started with the chain in 1964 in the Dixie Store # 26 Men's Wear Department which at that time was a concessionaire [Rockower of Canada Ltd]. I then went to the old Riteway store in Brampton, and from there to open the new Riteway store at Carlaw and Gerrard #30. From there I got promoted to the buying office and over the next 20 odd years held most of the positions in many of the departments including buyer, Sr. buyer, Merchandise Manager, Group Merchandise Manager and Vice President Marketing.

After Towers was taken over by the Bay, I left to go to work for the North West Company, in Winnipeg. The North West Company was of course the newly formed company which bought out the old Bay Northern Stores Division from the Bay. I was the Vice President of Marketing for 6 years and the V.P. retail operations for 2 years.

I then retired at 55 and am now living very happily in Owen Sound Ontario, enjoying all the golfing, fishing and hunting the area has to offer. I have bumped into a few old friends and employees from the past up here and look forward to browsing this website and hearing from more.

It's the people that make a Company, and we had one of the best.
 

Hi again

I surf over to your Towers website now and again to see if there is anything new. Somebody actually noticed one of the notes I left – I received an e-mail from Eric Richardson, who was the store manager at #27 Waterloo, where I worked for five years from 1984 to 1989.

I notice that you have two stores listed for Kitchener (and one for Waterloo). The address for store Kitchener store #65 should be Strasburg Road. You also have a store #57 listed for Kitchener, but there were only two Towers stores in Kitchener-Waterloo; store #57 was Stratford.

I am still meaning to get around to scanning in some photos for you – the Waterloo store was the third to get the “Store of the Future” refit and I have some great photos of the store following the renovation.

Great site!

Cheers

Jeff Sutton

KPMG Moscow

(Towers Waterloo, 1984-1989)
 

I was on your website "Towers Department Stores", I noticed that there was a question mark(?) about a Towers Department Store being in Dartmouth Cole Harbor. I can confirm that at one time there use to be a Towers Department Store in Dartmouth Cole Harbor. 

Many of the original Towers employees are still working there!

From what I can gather the original store was built in the late 1980's (around 1987), for a few years it was a Towers store, but it was turned into a Zellers around 1991.

How I came across these photo's is that I am a employee at the store (currently Zellers), in the employee lounge underneath a TV stand we have some photo albums of photo's taken in and around the store over the past 20 or so years. One lunch break I sorted through all of the pictures and albums and copied that ones that had to do with Towers.

I hope you find these photo's interesting and helpful! By all means... feel free to post any of these on your website!

Best Wishes

 

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

just heard about the site from Anne Marie Brown. Reading some of the e-mails brought back many fond memories. I was an Inventory Control Manager for 27 years and met many great people doing store openings. Had a great time meeting and working with many different workers.
 

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Worked for Towers from 1974-1980. Dept. Supervisor in Niagara Falls, Asst. Manager in St. Catharines, and also Dixie and Dundas store until I left the company to pursue other interests.
 

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I was also a former Towers employee at store # 38 since 1988. What an amazing start to a students career. Towers had unique teams of individuals from diverse backgrounds to work with. It made my personal work experience very positive and memorable. I will never forget some of the p/t employees that I worked with there.

Towers believed in investing on training and development for all of their P/T and F/T sales associates. Service could never be any better.

If I could only turn back the time - I would once work again for such an amazing store.
 

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Worked at the Head Office from 1979 'til 1990.
 

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Hi. I'm so excited to have found this site. Thanks to Myrtle for letting me know. I started at Towers in 1979 and worked at several locations. I look forward to hearing from anyone who remembers me.
 

I started my career in 1970 with Rockower of Canada, at that time, the Men's Wear concession at Towers. When Towers bought Rockower, I joined the Towers buying group in Montreal as a junior buyer.

Throughout the years, I was promoted to Buyer for Children's Wear and then Ladies Wear.

I left Towers in 1990 to pursue his career as a consultant. I now teach Purchasing Management at the Sherbrooke Cegep College in relationship with the Purchasing Management Association of Canada (PMAC).

I live at the base of Mont Megantic, the first International Dark Sky Reserve where he welcome stargazers in his Bead and Breakfast (www.auvaillantbourg.com)

My name is Ann Walters and I was an employee of the Oshawa Group for 22 years. During that time I worked at the Towers Head Office on Orfus Road from 1974 to 1979 and was secretary to Bill Atkinson, Don Beaumont, and Hugh Simpson. After several years at the Corporate Office on the East Mall and also Oshawa Foods on the Queensway, I returned for a second stint at Towers in their new offices on Airport Road as secretary to Ed Harsant.

I am now happily retired and live in Etobicoke, Ontario.

I'm glad I stumbled upon this website. Keep up the good work.

I was looking up spme information about different Canadian business and came accross your site. I remember Towers growing up in NS specially the Bedfrod location as i lived in Halifax. The Cole Harbour location was in Colby Village Plaza and opened in 1986 I believe. The New Minas location was in Gardens Mall and was rebuilt as a Wal Mart after Zellers left.
 

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So happy to find this web site. Towers was a great company to work for. We were all family. Worked hard but always had fun.
 

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What a great surprise stumbling into this web site. Thanks to who ever thought of this. It sure brings fond memories. I started with Towers in 1973 at the Dixie and Dundas Store #26. I would love to ear from anyone who remembers me.
 

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I worked as a stockboy in the Brantford Towers in 1972 to 1974. My memories are of being a fill-in cashier during the Christmas rush and the great race between myself and any other stockboys on duty whenever the restaurant Red Grille called for a stockboy. The first one there to help them change the big milk boxes got a free drink. Life wasn't much better!
 

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I joined Towers as assistant electronics buyer 1974. Promoted to electronics buyer in 1978 and then had the camera dept added to my responsibilities. I became the toy buyer (boys toys) in 1984. Karen Baillargeon was the toy buyer(girls toys).

I was on a buying trip in Hong Kong when I received the news of the sale of the company to Zellers, and had to go around the vendors cancelling orders.

My years with Towers were the best. I made some very good friends.
 

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Talk about the past coming back. What a time I had working at Towers. A whole lot of work and a whole lot of fun! I met a lot of great people. What a great website.
 

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Great to read the comments from others. I started with Oshawa at Food City in St. John N.B., and transferred to Charlottetown in 74. I ran the produce operation for the two Towers stores on Prince Edward Island for 16 years. Great experience, great company. If it still was, I would still be there.
 

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Worked at Jane & Finch, Dixie and Stratford (left in '89). Many great Towers memories.
 

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Wow, Towers...its been a while. I worked at Rexdale for about 13 years and met a lot of people and friends that I still talk to... great part-time job, started as a stock clerk like most guys and went up to supervisor and stayed until it closed and got a package. Great memories and great people...cool site.
 

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Hi. My name is Dave Morrow. I started my first job as a stock clerk at Towers at the age of 16 at the Rexdale Plaza. I worked for them for a number of years and was promoted to supervisor at the Jane & Finch Store. After helping security take down a shoplifter I decided to say goodbye to Towers. The shoplifters gun fell out of his pocket.. AHHH.. I still keep in touch with friends who worked at Towers and my wife also worked there as a cashier. Names I remember -- Mr Valencore, Karen Schmidt. There are so many it would take awhile to type them out.
 

Here is a listing of stores of all Towers and Bonimart stores. This is on memory and had some help with former staff members through this site and facebook. They are as follows:
 

If stores are missing please le me know
 

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Some of you out there might remember me. I started with Towers full time in 1962 in the High Park Store. Over my 28 years with Towers I held a number of positions in the Toronto area stores and for a time I was a Merchandise
Specialist on the road covering Toronto, Northern Ontario along with Peterborough & Belleville.

In 1973 I became a Store Manager (first store Oakville). In 1980 I was transferred to Store #27 Waterloo, Ontario and remained there until May 2004 when I retired from HBC.

To borrow and old Towers Ad campaign: The last day on one memory is the first day of the next memory! That’s what this site has done for me.

Currently living in Kitchener, Ontario during the winter months and in Parry Sound Ontario when the weather is nice.
Thanks for putting this site together.
 

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Store numbers - Collingwood Towers Number 63 opened Oct 21, 1980. I was the store manager at opening. Owen Sound Number 37 opened May 1967. Stoney Creek (Hamilton) Number 31. Oakville # 41 opened in fall of 1969 and I can give you my best guess on some others: North Bay 58, Rexdale 43.
 

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Hi, my daughter showed me this site. It was great to see some familiar names. Yes, I hired Greg Rambo! I started out
as P/T cash office at the Brampton store and moved my way up to Housewares buyer. It was a great 23 years. I still keep in touch with John Skelly and Bryan MacDonald.
 

Another store for your list: Hamilton - east end - Queenston Road at Nash Road.

I remember it from when I was a child in the 1960s &70s - not sure when it closed. We got lots of our non-hand-me-down clothes there, and on payday sometimes Dad would buy me a Nancy Drew book. My parents wouldn't buy us sneakers there, even though they were 99 cents, because they had this thing about fit and shoestores.

Thank you for that blast from the past. I also remember Robinson's, The Right House, Miracle Mart, Shop-Rite & Consumers Distributing, Eatons of course, Simpsons, KMart, Kresge's, Woolworths, Woolco, Woodwards, and the Young Canada Shop. Sigh.
 

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Never worked at Towers, but did live in Summerside PEI in early 70's and remember the Towers store. BJ Arsenault, if you do see this, please email me. I remember listening to you on CJRW. Had no idea you were only 15 at the time. I would have been 12 or 13 then. Thanks, Richard.
 

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Thanks for the site and info. I remember Towers very well living in Rexdale then Mississauga.
 

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I worked at the head office on Orfus Road back in 1974-1979. I started as an assistant buyer in training, and ended up as a Buyer, Homefurnishings, with D. Waddell as my boss. I would love to hear from Ron Ferguson, Bev Stanley, Donna Corcoran, Doug Waddel, Janet Robinson, Jo Anne Porter. I was tall, young, and stuttered.
 

What a joy of finding this site, it brought great memories of my 20 years at Towers. In 1963 I started working for this great organization in Cyrville “Ottawa” at the tender age of 18. I was then given an opportunity to work in Montreal, London, Scarborough and Dixie. Managed numerous stores in Montreal area and transferred to Toronto head office as toy buyer. I still have great memories of my extended family and keep in touch with some of you. I now live in Brampton Ontario my email address is bvermette@sympatico.ca
Best wishes.
 

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MY first job was at Jane and Finch, then over to Brampton and finished off at Dixie. Great memories of the Towers. Lots of friends I still talk to.
 

Saint John NB had one. Just thought you might like this for your list. The neat feature of this store was that there was no above ground parking. You had to park in the basement (underground) and come up into the mall to get into the store. The cafeteria was excellent.
 

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I keep coming back to see who else has been here. It is great to see new people sign in and remember them from Head Office. I am curious if anyone knows updates on Greg Rambo, Don Cameron and of course my mentor Janet Robertson.

I send my best wishes for 2009 to all!
 

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Started at Towers as a part-time stock boy in high school (1971, Owen Sound), then upon graduation went fulltime in Owen Sound. Transferred to Jane and Finch as department manager of various departments (toys/sports/seasonal, hardware/housewares, health and beauty/tobacco). Jane and Finch was a great bunch of people. We had a good hockey team as well.

My first manager was Bruce Downey and his assistant was Jim French.

Anyone in the Owen Sound store remember our maintenance man Jack Fisher - what a guy! My first manager in Owen Sound was Bruce Downey (where is he now?)

Left towers in 1976 to join Beaver Lumber and have been in that business since then. Wonder where everyone from that time is today.

This is a great site and I will try to pass it on. Will watch regularly.
 

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Andre, yes, I'm here. I do check this site from time to time. There is a Towers account on FACEBOOK and I'm in it.

I do know you will remember my father. Unfortunately, he passed away one week after my sister got married.

I do miss the fun working at Towers Head Office with all the people but Greg Rambo was my favourite employee there. He would come to the mailroom and pick my dad so bad he wouldn't have a chance against him. But hey, I got my shots against Greg and loved those moments.

I left the company and came back later to work with Oshawa Foods Head Office. The people were great, but the Towers staff, well they were family and one better.

This is one company saw it's own death come reality once "PAPA" Ray Wolfe passed away. He was one man whose hand I shook not only at Towers Head Office, but Oshawa Foods Head Office and East Mall Office. He was a very friendly person who loved to talk to the staff and get their feedback. R.I.P. "PAPA" Ray.
I'm leaving my address, give me a shout gorshe6769@hotmail.com 
 

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Great site and an even greater place to work. Over the years, I worked at Head Office on Orfus Rd and on Airport Rd. I worked in Ad Control with Wally Mulholland and Janet Robertson. I worked for the Toy buyer (Karen Baillargeon and Peter Skewes, Mens Wear Buyer (Sid Zon) and Notions buyers (Bev Stanley and Donna Corcoran).

I also worked in the Brampton store on Queen Street, (Mrs. McGregor and Carm Caravaggie) on the courtesy desk and cashier. I love this site and it's great to see some old (not too old) familiar names.

I wish you all well and would like get in touch with some of you.
 

FYI: I twice attempted to leave the message set out below in your website "guestbook" but in both cases, before I could sign off, my comments mysteriously disappeared from my screen and were replaced by somewhat strange pop-ups. I tell you this in case they should equally mysteriously reappear somewhere else on your site.

Basically, I wanted to convey to you that your entry regarding Bill Atkinson under the heading "where are they" was drawn to my attention while chatting with Bill today when he pointed out with some amusement that you record that he "passed away in 1992". While Bill may have a somewhat grave outlook on current economic conditions I am very pleased to report he is alive and well and living in retirement in Oakville and is generally in excellent health and good humor.

A few aging former employees may remember me from when I was at Towers 1978 -- 1981 when I was SVP & CFO. I'm also pleased to report that I am alive and well and living in Upper Nyack, New York and officially retired as I have reached an age where I correctly appear to be generally considered unemployable.

Thank you for taking the time to create your interesting site.
 

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So great to see familiar names. I started with Towers back in 1974 in the reproduction department. Many of you will remember me and Pat Slaughter on the switchboard with our big heavy headsets and the old cord board with all the wires.

Good memories.

Or you might remember me and Cliff Adams running thru the halls whenever there was an any problem to take care of. I married Bob MacDonald the buyer at Towers and I'm sure many of you remember him he was with Towers over 25 years. If anyone out there remembers it would be great to hear from you. Memories of Towers are great ones that we still talk about today....
 

Since I wrote you the last time I came up with more memories when I was a employee of Towers/Bonimart

I remember while working in the Cyrville store (Ottawa East) they would call a code and door number (doors that led to the outside from the storage area) on the PA signaling that there was a unauthorized opening of that door and all male personnel had to run to that door to check it out (I think they use to do it so we would get some exercise).

When working in Camera/Records Department we use to have commission sheets for some photographic equipment and accessories all we had to do is when we wrung up (departments such has camera, jewellery, health and beauty,... had there own cash) a sale we would put down the department number and the price every week we would enter our sheets in to the office and the last pay of the month we would get a little bonus.

Again I was in the Cyrville store when Rexdale store was open (69 or 70 no Sunday shopping) This was the new concept store the 2 floors, special escalator for the carts, the seven foot shelving units, Sights and Sound( high end audio and video equipment)... So to show off the new store all Towers employees were invited to attend a Sunday day off shopping, I remember being pick up early that Sunday by a co worker by the name off Sheryl in her VW fastback. The thing that sticks out in my mind is when we were allowed in the Rexdale store Sheryl and I went to the snack bar for a cup a coffee we were chatting in French when the waitress came up and asked what we wanted in FRENCH now that was quite mind boggling for a suburb of Toronto. Afterwards we found out that there was allot of francophone's in Rexdale.

Now some memories of the Sudbury store - like the Rexdale store this was the new concepts in action.

I don't remember if this was a company wide policy or the Sudbury store was different but long hair on male employees was not allowed so the part timers, with shoulder length or longer hair, wore wigs to hide it.

One thing that was unique to Sudbury was the Wednesday noon closing Bylaw. No we did not get the afternoon off. We took advantage of restocking the shelves and doing our weekly orders.

Well that's it for now.
 

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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.
 

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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.
 

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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.

 

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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.
 

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


 

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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.
 

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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. ]
 

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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
 

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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
 

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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!
 

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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
 

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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.
 

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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.
 

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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.
 

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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.
 

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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.

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