Operations during 20th century Simpsons-Sears Sears Canada began its operations as
Simpsons-Sears Limited, a catalogue and mid-market suburban retailer that was a joint venture between the
Robert Simpson Company Limited, a Canadian department store chain, and
Sears, Roebuck and Co. of the United States. In 1952, Sears Chairman General
Robert E. Wood sent a letter to Simpsons President Edgar G. Burton, proposing a partnership between their two companies in order to serve the Canadian market. The deal to create Simpsons-Sears Limited, a Canadian catalogue and department store chain separate from the Simpson's chain, was signed on September 18, 1952. The new company would be a 50–50 partnership; Simpsons and Sears both invested $20 million and had equal representation on Simpsons-Sears' board of directors. The new company had two main objectives: to expand Simpson's mail-order business (which was sold to the new company) and to build a string of stores modelled on Sears' format across the country. The agreement also contained a provision that would become a major challenge in later years. Under its terms, Simpsons-Sears could not open a retail store within 25 miles of Simpsons' existing stores in Toronto,
Montreal,
Halifax,
Regina, and
London. In return, Simpsons promised not to build any stores outside of those five cities. Simpsons-Sears' mail-order business, however, was free to operate anywhere in Canada, as was the new Simpsons-Sears Acceptance Company, the credit arm of the operation. The business operations of Simpsons-Sears began when the first Simpsons-Sears Spring/Summer Catalogue was printed by Photo-Engravers and Electrotypers, Ltd. and delivered to 300,000 Canadian homes in early 1953. On September 17, 1953, the first Simpsons-Sears retail store opened in
Stratford, Ontario; the second store opened in
Kamloops,
British Columbia in December of that year. In 1954, Simpsons-Sears opened Canada's first large suburban department store, in
Vancouver –
Burnaby, BC, based on new the modern Sears, Roebuck model, spreading across the U.S. Simpsons-Sears introduced the slogan “We Service What We Sell” in 1955, backed up by a highly trained nationwide corps of service technicians. In 1963, Simpsons-Sears opened its first full-line store in
Quebec, in
Quebec City's
Fleur de Lys complex. The company made its public debut on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges on April 5, 1965, with the listing of its Class “A” non-voting shares. That year, Sears began its long-standing partnership with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada, to support its youth programming. In 1968, Simpsons-Sears became the first Canadian retailer to begin buying products from
Mainland China. In 1971, Simpsons-Sears opened a
new head office building in downtown Toronto. In 1972, Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears agreed to end the 25-mile restriction and permit Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears stores anywhere. The following year Simpsons-Sears opened a store at
Square One Shopping Centre in the city of
Mississauga, approximately west of Toronto. To avoid confusing customers used to Simpsons, new stores were opened under the "Sears" banner. All existing Simpsons-Sears stores were rebranded to the Sears banner as well. However, the name of the company remained Simpsons-Sears Limited. Also in 1973, Sears hit $1 billion in sales. In 1974, Simpsons-Sears opened a Sears store at
Hillcrest Mall in
Richmond Hill,
Ontario, its first location in a mall that had a Simpsons store.
Divestiture by Simpsons In 1978, Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears put forward a plan to merge their businesses. This plan had to have the approval of the Foreign Investment Review Agency, as Sears, Roebuck would become the prime shareholder. Before approval could be attained, the
Hudson's Bay Company made a counter bid and acquired Simpsons Limited. Simpsons' shares in Simpsons-Sears taken over by The Bay were eventually sold back to Sears, Roebuck. The company was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984 to reflect its independence. , Toronto, one of the stores acquired from Simpsons in 1991|222x222px The paths of Hudson's Bay and Sears crossed again in 1991. The Hudson's Bay Company merged its remaining Greater Toronto Simpsons stores into its
The Bay division in 1991, and the Simpsons name disappeared from Canada's retail landscape. As a result of this move, Sears Canada took over eight former Simpsons and Bay stores and finally gained a major foothold in Greater Toronto, a market from which it had been excluded by the 1952 agreement with Simpsons. These new stores featured a new 60:40 fashions; hardlines mix and introduced new boutique shop arrangements and fashion lines, such as Le Chateau, Sung, and Rouie. Sears announced, "The Store of the Future" in 1983. It represented a complete transformation and remodelling of stores along a new product-focused and customer-friendly merchandising program. The first remodelled store, in Mississauga, Ontario, was unveiled in 1985. Stores would be fully retrofitted over the following three years. The Sears Catalogue Club points program began in 1986. The next year, it changed to "Sears Club" to incorporate all the company's trading channels. The points of the program could no longer be earned from June 22, 2017.
Acquisition of Eaton's In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the assets and the trademark name of the bankrupt chain
The T. Eaton Company Limited. For the first time in its history, Sears Canada gained the leases to a number of prime downtown locations in Toronto (Eaton Centre),
Vancouver,
Victoria,
Winnipeg,
Ottawa, and
Calgary, all former Eaton's flagship stores. The Simpsons-Sears agreement had largely shut out Sears from the urban core, and that remained so even when the restriction was lifted, as The Bay and Eaton's long held a duopoly in the downtowns of major Canadian cities. Sears Canada had also entertained notions of obtaining the former Eaton downtown Montreal store but that location was eventually occupied by Quebec retailer
Les Ailes de la Mode.
Operations during 21st century Sears relaunched "Eatons" (rendered with the lowercase "e" logo) in November 2000 as a seven-store upscale mini-brand, with locations in Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto (Eaton Centre and Yorkdale) and Ottawa, all of which had been flagship Eaton stores. At Yorkdale and Winnipeg's
Polo Park, this meant that Sears Canada managed two anchor stores (Eatons and Sears) in those malls for a short time. This operation was unsuccessful, however, and Sears converted the Eatons stores to the Sears brand in 2002. Many said that the Eatons stores were too upscale and/or too thinly scattered across the country for the mini-chain to have ever been profitable and worthwhile. The retail environment has changed with more of the population shopping at
big box outlets and specialty stores squeezing out the middle market which is the base of the traditional department store. In 2005, Sears Card financial services were outsourced to
JPMorgan Chase. Sears received C$3 billion for the sale, and the Sears Club points system was retained by the retailer. Sears also paid a special dividend upon the completion of the transaction.
CEO Brent Hollister said that the move would allow Sears to refocus on its retail operations. Sears Canada announced it would end its credit card partnership with JPMorgan Chase when the agreement expired in November 2015. In January 2006,
Sears Holdings, the parent company and majority shareholder of Sears Canada, made a bid to purchase the remaining shares to take the company private. Some members of the board opposed the move. A ruling by the
Ontario Securities Commission, made in August 2006, stalled progress the attempted privatization by its parent company, Sears Holdings Limited. While the ruling did not dispel the future possibility of the privatization of Sears Canada, it posed a significant obstacle by ruling three major shareholding blocks ineligible to vote as the blocks were given extraordinary privileges by Sears Holdings Limited. On November 14, 2006, Sears Holdings' move to privatize Sears Canada at a bid of $17.97/share fell through by voting amongst the minority shareholder groups. On March 31, 2005, the majority ownership stake was transferred to
Sears Holdings, which then owned 73.1% of Sears Canada common shares, while
Pershing Square Capital held 17.3%, and the remainder of the shares were publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. On September 26, 2007, Sears Canada announced the sale of its
222 Jarvis Street headquarters to the
Government of Ontario. The company relocated its head office to surplus space at its flagship store in the
Toronto Eaton Centre.
Decline Same-store sales were down 4% in 2010, compared to 6.8% in 2009. In December 2011, after slow sales over the holiday season, Sears laid off 70 employees from its head office after losing nearly $47 million in the previous quarter. Through 2003 and into 2011 the company lost $1.6 billion in revenue. In June 2011, Calvin McDonald, formerly of
Loblaw Companies, was named president and CEO of Sears Canada. McDonald planned to restructure the company's operations under a three-year plan, in the wake of increased competition and economic uncertainties. He explained that "we are in the situation that we are in because we stopped doing the things that make great retailers great. We traded ourselves into this challenge and we will trade ourselves out of it." The company had posted a $44.1 million loss in 2010 but had recovered to $21.9 million by the third quarter of 2011. Among the planned changes were to build upon market segments where Sears had historically performed well (including appliances, dresses, children's wear and related products, and mattresses), and introduce a new store format with a more "engaging" layout. In 2012, Sears sold three stores in Calgary, Ottawa, and Vancouver (
Chinook Centre,
Rideau Centre, and
Pacific Centre) back to
Cadillac Fairview for $170 million. In September 2013, Douglas C. Campbell took over as Sears Canada's
COO. The following month, Sears Canada announced that it would close five of its major urban stores and sell them back to their respective landlords, including its flagship Toronto Eaton Centre location, as well as two other locations in Toronto, one in London, and one in Richmond, British Columbia. Campbell explained that "Unlocking the value of assets is one of the three levers we have said we will use as a way to create total value for the company. When proposals such as this one are presented to us, we must weigh the value of the transaction against the value we will obtain from continuing to operate those stores in their current locations". Campbell left Sears Canada in October 2014 and was replaced by Ronald Boire, who served until June 2015. Brandon Stranzl was appointed executive chairman in July 2015, continuing in his role as chairman of the board and also assuming the duties of the CEO. In November 2015,
Carrie Kirkman was appointed president and chief merchant, a role she held until July 2016. In late 2013, SHS Services Management, a Markham, Ontario-based contract partner, went into receivership, but Sears Canada promised to honour home improvement warranty through services offered by SHS on behalf of Sears Canada. , 2017 On August 24, 2016, Sears Canada unveiled a new corporate logo, consisting of a black wordmark and a red outline of a maple leaf, to replace the blue striped wordmark that had previously been used by the U.S. Sears chain. Company representatives described the new logo as being "bold" and "confident". In its second quarter earnings report, Sears Canada announced that it was developing a new store concept dubbed "Sears 2.0", which it planned to test at several of its current locations. In September 2016, Sears officially unveiled the new store format at its
Promenade and
Mapleview Centre locations, with a media launch day on September 27, 2016. The new format was designed to have a more open layout with fewer permanent displays and partitions, providing more flexibility in how departments are arranged and stocked. The footwear department was also moved to the centre of the store and switched to a "self-serve" concept, with product boxes accessible by customers (thus reducing the need for dedicated associates). Stranzl stated that the new format was meant to "take ideas from the best in the business, whether it's in shoes, outerwear or appliances", and return the chain to a "price-focused" strategy. The new format was implemented during renovation of the
Stone Road Mall location in Guelph. In December 2016, Sears Canada announced plans to add grocery sections in three-to-five remodelled stores in 2017. The selection would be primarily organic, with a focus on low cost and e-commerce.
Bankruptcy and liquidation in
Medicine Hat,
Alberta in 2017, months before liquidation On June 13, 2017, citing "material uncertainties" over whether the company would have enough cash flow to meet its financial obligations over the next year, and "significant doubt as to the company's ability to continue as a going concern", Sears Canada announced that it had hired advisors to explore a potential restructuring or sale of the company. On June 22, 2017, Sears Canada received court protection from its creditors and announced that it had commenced court-supervised restructuring proceedings under the
Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, which would include closure a total of 59 stores (including 20 department stores, 15 Sears Home stores, 14 Sears Hometown stores, and 10 Sears Outlet stores) over an unspecified time period. These closures resulted in the loss of 2,900 employees. The company had also been reducing its product assortment to have a larger focus on fashion and home decor, downplaying its automotive, electronics, and tool businesses. The company stated that its new strategies and positioning were "starting to resonate with consumers", citing increasing same-store sales over the previous two quarters. On July 18, 2017, Sears Canada received court approval to begin
liquidating the inventory of the 59 closing locations on July 21, 2017, appointing
Gordon Brothers and Merchant Retail Solutions to manage the liquidation of the department and Sears Home stores. Per the formal plan submitted in court documents, the terms "bankruptcy", "going out of business", or "liquidation" could not be used to promote these sales. Liquidation of the Hometown stores was managed by their franchisees. The move to close Hometown stores was criticized by several of their owners. The owners of five Alberta dealers reported that most of their locations were still profitable, and stated that due to the restructuring proceedings, they were losing compensation prescribed by their contracts with Sears if the retailer terminates them early. Amid the restructuring, Sears Canada was criticized for its treatment of the laid-off employees, including that the company planned to issue a total of $7.6 million in retention bonuses to 43 executives and senior managers, and $1.6 million to senior employees at stores that are closing, but did not plan to offer severance pay to the laid-off employees. These concerns resulted in calls over social media to boycott the company. Sears Canada defended the decisions, stating that the retention payments were a common practice during these processes, intended to maintain the morale of senior staff as they wind down their stores and that key executives remain with the company through the insolvency process. On August 15, 2017, the company announced that it planned to seek authorization from the
Ontario Superior Court to siphon $500,000 from the retention bonuses into an "Employee Hardship Fund", which would be available to eligible employees. A company representative stated that Sears Canada "shares everyone's concerns about the plight faced by some of its former employees, and is glad to see a solution, pending court approval, that can at least help those most in need."
The Globe and Mail noted that this arrangement was not a true substitute to severance pay, as affected employees "would have collected far more had Sears followed the typical path of giving a few weeks of pay per year of service for terminated employees." in
Edmonton,
Alberta in October 2017, before
liquidation On October 2, 2017, Sears Canada announced its intent to seek extended bankruptcy protection as well as the closure of 11 additional stores. A management group led by the company's executive chairman Brandon Stranzl had hoped to take over the retailer, but that attempt failed. "Following exhaustive efforts, no viable transaction for the company to continue as a going concern was received," Sears Canada announced on October 10, 2017. On the same day, the company stated that it was seeking court approval to liquidate the approximately 130 remaining locations and assets. Sears Canada received Ontario Superior Court approval on October 13, 2017, since there was no viable buyer for the operation; the liquidation process was expected to be completed in 10 to 14 weeks after the beginning of liquidation on October 19, 2017. The closure of all operations led to a loss of nearly 12,000 jobs, of which roughly three-quarters were part-time employees. Since the pension plan was underfunded by nearly $270 million, the annual benefits received by 17,000 pension plan members was likely to be reduced. ==Store formats and channels==