Talk:Eaton's/Archives/2013

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I'm from St. Marys. The first store was in Kirkton, just outside St. Marys!

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My recollection is that the eatons brand wasn't created by Sears, but was invented by Eaton's just prior to its complete collapse, as an attempt to attract younger, hipper shoppers to its stores. Am I out to lunch on this? - Juliand

• You are not out to lunch. The only difference in "eatons", owned by Sears Canada and "eaton's", owned by the family was the apostrophe, and the lack of major appliances. The lower case "e", which by the way, some people claimed T the symbol for the drug ecstacy and the aubergine colour of the lettering was Eaton's attempt at modernization that did not catch on with a buying public that was flocking to the discounters and specialty retailers in the 'burbs. Without the hard goods and furniture, the large department stores were left trying to fill the square footage with goods of the type that Holt Renfrew and Co. sells. They blew it with over-expansion in the 70's and early 80's. Building full-line department stores and mini Toronto Eaton Centres in places like downton Guelph was sheer folly. They didn't concentrate enough on prime sites such as the amazing Yorkdale in Toronto or even Polo Park in Winnipeg. Lets face it. The later Eaton boys just didn't have the vision to preserve their place in some of the best retail locations in all of Canada. I just have too much stuff in my brain. - Dale
• The "e" logo (lower case "e" in a circle) was something that Eaton's came up with before its bankruptcy in 1999 (decades earlier, Eaton's had used a capital "E" in a diamond). It's one of the few marketing/branding elements that Sears kept. The lower case "eatons" name was all Sears Canada; Eaton's was still using "Eaton's" (with a capital E and an apostrophe) right up until the end. Skeezix1000 13:22, 8 November 2005 (UTC)
• Great to see that this article has been expanded so much. Bravo.

Too Polite

I think the person who started this is a bit too polite and one sided.

"A rapidly changing economic and retail environment in the late 20th century proved difficult for Eaton’s, and the chain went bankrupt in 1999"

How about "someone squandered great grand dad, and grand dad's empire". Sure the times were changing and there was a recession (there is a recession every 10 -15 years), but a few key people had their heads in their asses and allowed a over 100 year old national brand go into bankruptcy.

Yes my friends, this puppy, if not already, should be in every Canadian Business, Business Management and History Book. What a shame.

The buyout and supposed rebranding was a very lazy attempt by Sears Canada to appease Torontonians (Eaton Centre), and Canadians. They did not put any real effort into it, and converted everything to Sears within a year and a half. In the end it was really about bargain basement price or "bankruptcy" sale as some customers know it by. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.55.13.207 (talk) 00:14, 22 December 2007 (UTC)

Small 'e'/Aubergine

The Small E and Aubergine Ad were not a movement of Sears relaunch as far as I can recollect. That was part of Eaton's failed attempt to relaunch the store brand following their brankruptcy. If you note the end of the Aubergine ad it mentions Nov 25. Sears' relaunch completely missed the holiday season which is one of the reasons it failed. Rendar 07:31, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

The aubergine thing was part of the Sears relaunch. The relaunch, by the way, did not miss the Christmas season entirely, but a number of retail experts were of the opinion that an end-of-November opening was too late within the season. The small "e" was initiated by Eaton's itself, before its final bankruptcy, but Sears made more prominent use of it. Skeezix1000 12:59, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

You're completely right. I got thinking and started doing some archival digging in newspapers and what not. I believe it was the small e that confused me. As you said, that was originally started by Eaton's. However, I do recall something being off from the Holidays. It could have been the arrival of my first new Eaton's catalogue, which came some time in February. I also dealt with this all from a prairie perspective (Red Deer...ergo Calgary store) so the timing could have been completely different from the main centres of Toronto/Montreal. In the end it was probably the complete lack of change in most of the stores that killed it. A pity they didn't reuse the Kingway Eaton's in Edmonton which had been one of Eaton's prototype stores and was absolutely gorgeous. 68.148.112.210 06:56, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

I worked at Eaton's in Vancouver from 1995 - '98 I remember a manager screening an eaton's (small 'e') aubergine ad for us in the lunch room. I left in December of '98, so this would have been in the autumn of that year. I remember the ad had the circle-e logo.154.5.28.31 04:44, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

With some more work and peer review, I could see this article being a likely FA candidate in the near future. --Madchester 10:22, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

This article ought to be nominated, it's concise and well-written.

As member of Eaton's staff up to 1998, I remember being told of the above-The-Bay/below-Holt-Renfrew positioning strategy and screenings of the eaton's aubergine ads at managers' meetings - well before the Sears acquisition. I've flagged claims to the contrary in this section with a citation request. If nothing happens in the next while, I'll either remove the text or move it up to the section that describes the company's decline. Thoughts? Cap'n Crust (talk) 20:36, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Logo

Can someone do something about that awful-looking logo? It looks like it was slapped together in MS Paint (which it might've been). ShadowMan1od 17:25, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

"Lady Flora McCrae Eaton" - sorry, no

The style "Lady" with a first name (as in Lady Flora) is only ever used to refer to the daughter of a duke, marquess, or earl. It's never, never used (at least not correctly) to refer to the wife of a knight. She would be simply called "Lady Eaton" and nothing else. The first name is not used with the style. The way I've left it is the normal way it's written both legally and socially. "Lady Flora" is just plain wrong and smacks of the woman putting on airs.

In the same way, Barbara Amiel calling herself "Lady Barbara" is wrong. This however is her own fault for trying to sound more posh than she really is. Let's not follow her bad example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.144.68.238 (talk) 03:22, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

"Heart Broken"

As an American, I've only shopped at Eatons twice, in the 1980's. It was the only store I ever found with good quality leather gloves and a hat that fit me. As testament to the quality of the goods I purchased, they have worn out just recently (2008) and I was hoping to go back to Eatons to replace them on my third visit to Canada. A darn shame!