• Towers Marts of Canada brought the chain discount store concept to Canada in November of 1960. A crash building program would open 12 discount plaza units of 100,00 square feet each in just over two year. In Quebec, the stores went under the Bonimart banner.
  
  The first store was opened at the corner of Lawrence Ave. East and Midland Ave. Each selling department within a Towers store was operated as a licensed concession.
   
• Read Elayne Freeman's first hand account of opening day here.

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

• A new store opens (the third) at Bloor and Dundas Sts. On the opening day, the first 1,000 customers were sold silver dollars at 80 cents each. Seven sets of triplets, ranging in age from 3 to 24, took part in the opening ceremonies. They helped Ben Rosenberg, president of Towers Marts and Prosperities Ltd. fill a time capsule and photographs and newspapers. The capsule will remain buried until 2062. [Editor's note: I wonder what happened to it?} Donald Jaffey, president Allied Towers Merchants, said that centralizing warehousing, bookkeeping and inventory control will help streamline merchandising operations. MORE
   
• Allied Towers Merchants Limited offers shares in this May 23 announcement in the Star. MORE

• Shares of discount department store operator Towers Marts and Properties Ltd. drop from a high of $9 to a level of $1 per share. MORE
   
• Discounter Ben Rosenberg, president of Towers Marts and Properties store chain, announces March 6 that Towers is in receivership. Twelve of Towers' 13 stores are making money, he says. Attempting to cut costs, he announces that Allied Towers Merchants Ltd. has just taken over merchandising, cashiering and other in-store operations. MORE
   
• The Star reports on May 29 that Allied Towers Merchants suffered a $268,492 net loss for 1962. Three months earlier, Allied Towers assumed the merchandising functions formerly done by Towers Marts and Properties. MORE
   
• Bankruptcy trustee J.L. Biddell comments on the affairs of Towers Marts and Properties Ltd. "(They are) the most complicated matter I have ever been connected with." About 120 creditors consider a proposal that would keep the company in business. MORE

• M.W. Book is elected president and general manager of Allied Towers Merchants. MORE
   
• Maxwell Goldhar is appointed president and a director of Towers Marts and Properties Ltd. MORE
   
• Sales of Allied Towers Merchants Ltd. in the first seven months compare favourably with 1963 figures. MORE

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

• Toronto Star for October 5 reports that Eaton's, Simpsons, The Bay and Towers will be open for the Thanksgiving Monday. MORE
   
• In the October 27 edition of the Star, "a fight's shaping up over extended store hours." MORE
   
• In Canada, the Oshawa group introduces a hypermarket (department and grocery store together) near Montreal and calls it Hypermarché.

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

• The Kipling and Queensway Towers store is robbed by two men who climbed to the roof of the store and down a vent. Over $5,000 in men's watches and clothes are taken. MORE
   
• Coles Book Stores Ltd., once had a connection with Towers - they operated the toy, games and stationery concessions. MORE

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

• Former Vice President of Towers pleads guilty to fraud. MORE

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

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

• Ray Wolfe, chairman and president of of Oshawa Group Ltd., announces that sales have increased 11.7 per cent to $2.12 billion. This despite the lower profit from Towers Department Stores. MORE
   
• Don Beaumont, vice-president of Marketing for Towers concedes competition for toy sales from Toys "R" Us will likely be something to be reckoned with. "We've watched them for many years and have developed a healthy respect for them but Canada is another market, another world. Many prosperous American businesses have moved to Canada and have not enjoyed similar success." MORE
   
• Larry J. Crystal is appointed General Manager of the Restaurant Division MORE

• Shoppers are advised not to shop at the Riverdale Plaza or Galleria Shopping Centre stores. The reason? If you want to cash a cheque there you are going to have your photo taken. MORE
   
• Oshawa Group profit is up. Towers Department Stores helps out. MORE
   
• Towers, and other retailers, remove fake 'Cabbage Patch' dolls from their shelves. MORE

• Receives $128 refund for troublesome bicycle MORE

• W.L. Atkinson, president and chief executive officer of Towers Department Stores Inc. is named to the Peel Region's first Junior Achievement board of governors. MORE
   
• Max Wolfe, founder of the Oshawa Group Ltd., passes away. He was a grocer and businessman born in Lithuania in 1893 and raised near Newmarket, Ontario. At age 16, with $25 cash and a $60 loan, he bought a horse, wagon and load of apples and went into business. In 1914, he launched Ontario Produce Co. with his brother Maurice to supply army bases. The operation expanded to become known as the Oshawa Group Ltd. and at his death it included IGA, Food City, Dutch Boy, Towers Department Stores and Drug City.

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

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

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

• The October 4 edition of the Star reports that Woolworth Corp. of New York is interested in putting in a offer for Towers, despite Hudson's Bay Co. signed letter of intent to buy the 51-outlet operation from the Oshawa Group. MORE
   
• Globe and Mail article "A bidding war could erupt for the Towers department store chain run by Toronto's Oshawa Group Ltd." MORE
   
• The Toronto Star, on October 23, reports that "Oshawa, Hudson's Bay seal pact on store sale." While details are sketchy, a "definite agreement to sell its bargain-basement Towers and Bominart department store operations" for between $100 million and $150 million has been reached. MORE
   
• The November 5 edition of Discount Store News reports that “Zeller's parent gobbles up Towers - Hudson Bay Company buys Towers Department Stores Inc. from Oshawa Group Ltd., Zeller's Inc.” MORE
   
• On November 16, the Star reports that "Hudson's Bay to expand despite slump." MORE
   
• Zellers buys Towers/Bonimart from the Oshawa Group, 51 stores for $181.5 million ($3.6 million per store, or some $60 per square foot). Zellers buys another half billion dollars in sales and gets an 18 percent market share. President Paul Walters predicts Zellers will overtake Sears in 1991 sales. He also promises that Zellers will remain headquartered in Montreal ("Our roots are here; we wouldn't think of changing that"). Towers is doing some $90 per square foot. The Zellers marketing will bring most of the stores up to the Zellers productivity. [Ed. note. site]
   

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

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

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

• Speculation is mounting that the giant Zellers Inc. chain is close to buying the Towers and Bonimart department stores run by Toronto's Oshawa Group Ltd.
  
  Officially, at least, neither side will comment on the prospects for a deal or even confirm that discussions are going on. "I can't say anything about it," said a spokesman for Zellers' Toronto-based parent Hudson's Bay Co. MORE
   

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

• Discount Store News reports that “48 Towers due for remake.”  The March 4, 1991 article goes on to detail the conversion. John Urie, Zellers executive vice president, expects sales of the latest Zellers prototype stores "...to show double digit percentage increases." MORE
   
• Toronto Star reports that "Zellers sees banner year, plans expansion" in its March 6 edition. Paul Walters, Zellers president and chief executive officer, says "We are not retrenching - not pulling back and waiting for the storm to blow over. We intend to dominate the Canadian mass retail market, pure and simple." The purchase of Towers increased Zellers sales by about $500 million, Walters said. Analysts indicate that the purchase grew Zellers slice of the Canadian retail market to about 18 per cent, from 15 per cent. MORE
   
• The Toronto Star reports, on May 18, that despite the recession, "Oshawa Group gains after Towers sale." MORE

• Flea market flourishes where abandoned Bonimart once stood MORE
   
• Zellers loses money despite Zellers benefitting because it received discounts from suppliers to stock the 47 Towers-Bonimart stores acquired from Oshawa Group Ltd. MORE
   
• Laid off Bonimart employees receive little known benefits from Quebec government MORE
   
• Oshawa Group uses surplus cash from sale of Towers stores to buy more IGA MORE

• Zellers gives up on old Towers Sudbury location MORE

The Oshawa Group History

The Oshawa Group was one of Canada's largest suppliers of food, operating in both the wholesale and retail sectors. The company ran 102 supermarkets under a variety of banners, including Food City, IGA, and Dutch Boy. It was also the largest wholesale supplier to independently owned IGA stores in Canada. Oshawa was active in the general merchandwase and pharmaceutical market as well, running 39 Towers department stores in Ontario, nine Bonimart stores in Quebec, and 156 drugstores under the Pharma Plus, Drug City, and Metro Drugs chains. The company also operated 25 pharmacy units throughout its department stores and supermarkets.

The company was originally incorporated in Ontario on June 18, 1957 as Oshawa Wholesale Ltd., and operated as a distributor to grocery stores during its first few years.

But as the company grew in the early 1960s, it quickly began to diversify.

In 1963 Oshawa purchased a controlling interest in the Dominion Mushroom Company, a large mushroom growing and packing concern. Earnings surpassed $1 million in 1963, and Oshawa soon invested heavily in supermarkets.

In September, 1964 the company acquired full control of the Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) Distribution Company.

Oshawa diversified into general merchandising retailing in January, 1966 when it purchased a 75% interest and took over management of the six-store Rite-Way Department Store chain, which operated throughout Ontario.

A year later the company acquired the rest of Rite-Way's shares and purchased Allied Towers Merchants Ltd., another department store chain, combining the operations of the two under one management group.

Oshawa continued its diversification into other businesses and new geographical areas in the late 1960s.

In July, 1968 the company purchased Kent Drugs Ltd. The acquisition added about $7 million to Oshawa's annual sales, and Oshawa President Ray D. Wolfe announced the company's plans to put Kent Drug store units in new Towers Department stores.

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

Oshawa's food distribution unit was greatly expanded late in the year by the purchase of Shop & Save Ltd., an IGA supplier in Quebec.

The company branched into Canada's maritime provinces when it acquired Bolands Ltd., which as supplier to 45 IGA stores in that region had accounted for about $27 million in sales the previous year.

By the end of its shopping spree Oshawa was the supplier to 325 IGA stores in five provinces and had become well diversified in the general merchandise and drug store markets.

In the 1970s Oshawa became more involved in real estate dealings. In mid-1970 the company purchased an interest in Baxter Estates, a real estate partnership which owned an apartment building in Winnipeg and a shopping center in Calgary. (The company sold its interest in Baxter three years later for a nearly 100% profit).

In November, 1971, three months after it changed its name to The Oshawa Group Ltd. to reflect its diversity, the company purchased the rest of Marchland Holdings Ltd., a real estate developer it already half-owned.

At the time of the acquisition Marchland owned four Towers-Food City shopping centers and a commercial complex in Sudbury, Ontario that included a shopping mall, hotel, office center, theater, and parking garage. Oshawa also purchased the remaining third of the modular home developer Systems Construction Ltd. of Ontario.

In early 1972 Oshawa moved into western Canada by acquiring Codville Distributors Ltd. Oshawa's bid was accepted over the competing bid of Westfair Foods Ltd., a subsidiary of George Weston Ltd., because Oshawa's offer was more attractive to Codville's minority stockholders.

In October, 1973, Harvey S. Wolfe succeeded his brother Raphael Wolfe as president of Oshawa; Raphael became chairman and CEO.

The Oshawa group introduced the first hypermarket (Hypermarché) in North America near Montreal in 1973. A hypermarket is a superstore which combines a supermarket and a department store. The concept has been created in France, then exported to other countries.

The format was pioneered by Carrefour upon opening its first such store in 1963 at Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois, France,[1][2][3] In the Americas,

In 1976 Oshawa bought out its partners in the Decairie Square shopping mall in Montreal. In December, 1977, Norman S. Lipson, former president of Oshawa's Tower Department Stores unit, pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud which involved kickbacks of $411,000. Lipson had resigned from his position in late 1976. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and fined $30,000.

In the late 1970s the Wolfes began to slim Oshawa's operations a bit.

The company shed its 50% interest in the Consumers Distributing Company, Ltd. in 1978. Consumers Distributing sold brand-name general merchandise at reduced prices in large, no-frills showrooms; Oshawa had entered into a joint venture with the limited-service retailer, providing capital for the chain's expansion eight years before. Oshawa also sold its 90% interest in Coinamatic Laundry Equipment in late 1978.

The early 1980s saw Oshawa emphasize its core businesses--food wholesaling and retailing. In 1983 group sales surpassed $2 billion. In 1985 the company strengthened its presence in the Atlantic provinces when it acquired nine supermarkets and a distribution center in Nova Scotia from Dominion Stores Ltd. and bought 22 Canada Safeway supermarkets in the Toronto-Hamilton area.

In 1986, as group sales passed the $3 billion mark, Oshawa divested its Dominion Mushroom farm due to both erratic earnings and the unit's need for a major capital reinvestment, and sold its Decairie real estate in Montreal and its Sudbury shopping center.

In the late 1980s Oshawa took bold steps to improve its food retailing business. Oshawa's corporate-owned Food City stores took on a new "streetscape" look. The store layout was intended to resemble an old-fashioned sidewalk merchant atmosphere, and at the same time appeal to young urban professionals as well as retirees. Oshawa targeted upscale consumers wherever possible with specialized services and fancy merchandising.

For example, in 1987 the company's Thornhill, Ontario Food City superstore added a kosher deli, bakery, and meat department to appeal to the community's large Jewish population. By specializing wherever possible, Oshawa commanded beefier margins on premium products and services.

In 1988 Oshawa tripled its drug store chain by acquiring the 109 retail units of Boots Drug Stores for C$45 million. The stores were renamed Pharma-Plus Drugmarts and joined the 34 Kent Drugs and 12 Metro Drugs units in operation. The addition helped Oshawa sales to top $4 billion in 1989.

On November 2, 1998, Empire Company Limited ("Empire") and The Oshawa Group Limited ("Oshawa") announced that Empire, through Sobeys Inc. ("Sobeys") would acquire all of the voting common shares and Class "A" non-voting shares of The Oshawa Group Limited. The transaction included Oshawa's retail and wholesale operations across Canada, with the exception of the Maritimes. Sobeys also acquired Oshawa's food service business, SERCA Foodservice Inc. which operates coast-to-coast.


 

The Observer was a "...quarterly newspaper published by and for the employees of the Oshawa Group Limited and subsidiary companies" -- which included, of course, Towers Department Stores.

As an employee of Towers for many years, I would receive the Observer at home, glance it and toss it.

Except for one edition.

The "Spring Issue. Volume 12, No. 1", published June 1974, I kept for some reason.  And I'm glad I did. It's a unique snap shot of Towers - who was just promoted, who just got married and who celebrated the birth of a child.

I'm going to pick out this and that from this edition for you to enjoy.

Page 3
There is, more me at least, an extraordinary photo on this page. It was included in an article, by Oshawa President Harvey S. Wolfe, that bemoaned the fact that many small towns still had laws in place that forced businesses to close by 6 pm.

The photo is of an opening of a Towers store - a store that opened in, or before, 1974.  I don't know which one. The noticed (and OMG, remember!) the cashier uniforms and the cash registers.

The uniforms where an outrageous canary yellow colour, with a short mini skirt and a "beret" cap that had a little "stem" on the top -- like a stem of a pear!

The cash registers where from a company called Sweda.

Cashiers had to (and I remember this because I had to know how to do this):
 

• Separate the taxable items, from the non-taxable items.
   

• The machine had 7 or 8 columns of vertical buttons, arrange from zero at the bottom to nine at the top. They were colour coded. These buttons where mechanical. You had to apply some force to depress each one.
   

• Towers tickets were made up the CLASS, ITEM and PRICE. The CLASS, or department, would identify a category of products -- like candy. The ITEM number would identify a specific product in that department -- like Coffee Crisp chocolate bar.
   

• Cashiers has to enter the each piece of information one a time. It was commonly referred to as "3-pass" entry.
   

• Starting with the first taxable item, they would press the ITEM button. Then, moving their index finger swiftly up and down, enter the item number. It meant (counting from the right) entering the first digit in column 4, the second digit in column 3, and so on. Experienced cashiers would zip up and down -- their finger nails making clicky noises as they flew up and down. Once done entering the item number, they would press the big "ENTER" button on the far right. The cash register would go ca-chunk. The numbers would appear (white against a black background) in the mechanical display at the top of the machine.
   

• Next came the class number. Cashiers would press the CLASS button and enter (just as described above) this 3-digit number and press the ENTER button. Ca-chunk.
   

• Finally, the PRICE would be entered.
   

• When the ENTER button was pressed for the last time, a little bit of the customer receipt would peak out (with that item printed on it) and, unseen, a computer paper tape on the right side of the machine would be punched with little dots. (These tapes would be sent in daily for computer processing at the Head Office.)
   

• The cashier would then move on to the next item.
   

• I don't recall a way of repeating the transaction if a customer was buying two or three of the same item.
   

• Once all the taxable items were done, the cashier would press the SUBTOTAL button. Using a chart, the casher would then manually calculate the tax, press the TAX button and enter the amount.
   

• The cashier would then move on to the non-taxable items.