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Simpsons (department store)

The Robert Simpson Company, or Simpsons (Simpson's until 1972), was a Canadian department store chain, founded by Robert Simpson in 1872. Robert Simpson had no male heir and on his death in 1897, the business was sold to a consortium of investors made up of Albert Ernest Ames, Joseph Flavelle and Harris Henry Fudger. The chain was eventually bought by the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Simpsons brand is no longer in use.

History

The Simpsons store in downtown Toronto included one of Toronto's most famous and exclusive restaurants, the Arcadian Court, which opened in 1929. The store was acquired by Hudson's Bay Company in 1978, and the Arcadian Court is still in operation today. Throughout its history Simpsons was the traditional carriage trade department store in Toronto--competing with the rival T. Eaton Co.

Name change

Until 1972, the operating name of the company was Simpson's. During a time of increased pressure and sensitivity towards French language issues in Quebec, the company dropped the apostrophe. Although not yet law, companies began dropping the English possessive 's from their names. Rival Eaton's became simply "Eaton". However, company management did not want the company known as Simpson, so it dropped the apostrophe and changed the name to "Simpsons" (as reflected in the logo above and photo below). After Hudson Bay's Company acquired the company, it changed the name of the chain to Simpson for the stores in Quebec while keeping the name to Simpsons in other provinces.

Simpsons-Sears

In 1952, Simpsons partnered with Sears, Roebuck and Company, a U.S. department store chain, to create Simpsons-Sears Limited, a Canadian catalogue and department store chain separate from the Simpsons chain. The terms of the partnership agreement stipulated that no Simpsons-Sears store could be built within a 25-mile radius of existing Simpsons stores in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Regina and London, Ontario. Simpsons agreed not to build any new stores outside those cities.

In 1972, Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears Limited agreed to end the 25-mile restriction, and permit Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears Limited stores anywhere. In 1973, when Simpsons-Sears opened a store in the city of Mississauga, just west of Toronto, the company decided to use only the "Sears" name in order to prevent confusion with Simpsons stores operating in Toronto. Through 1973 and 1974, the remaining Simpsons-Sears stores and the catalogue operation were converted to the "Sears" name, although the legal partnership continued under the Simpsons-Sears name.

Acquisition by the Hudson's Bay Company

In 1978, Simpsons was acquired by the Hudson's Bay Company. Under federal competition law, the partnership had to be ended, and Simpsons and Simpsons-Sears Limited could not longer share facilities. Simpsons-Sears Limited became Sears Canada, although some Sears stores continued to carry the Simpsons-Sears name informally well into the 1980s.

In the early 1980s, the Hudson Bay's Company converted three Simpsons stores into Bay stores. On the other hand, an existing Bay store was converted to a Simpsons store around the same time.

In 1989 the flagship downtown Toronto Simpsons store completed a $30 million facelift with a relaunch known as the "Miracle on Queen Street", including a cosmetics area reputed to have been the largest in the world. The basement featured the addition of a gourmet food hall like that at Macy's in Herald Square in New York City or Harrods in London, and the St. Regis Room was expanded. Upscale shops such as Alfred Dunhill of London were included. The downtown store remains the largest department store in Canada.

The Hudson's Bay Company attempted to run Simpsons as a more upscale brand than its main brand The Bay, but was unsuccessful. The Simpsons operations were merged with The Bay in 1989 in the province of Quebec, and 1991 in the rest of the country. Since then, all of the stores have either been converted to The Bay or been closed, and the Simpsons name is no longer used.

The Canadian Intellectual Property Office database reports that the trademark to the name "Simpsons" is now owned by Sears Canada. It was purchased from the Hudson's Bay Company in 2001, some ten years after the name was officially retired.

St. Regis Room and West End Shop

The two most "exclusive" clothing departments in the former Simpsons downtown Toronto location, the St. Regis Room for women and the West End Shop for men, are still in operation at The Bay's downtown Toronto Queen Street store. Designers in the St. Regis Room include Givenchy, Christian Lacroix, Valentino, Armani Collezioni, Louis Feraud, Karl Lagerfeld, Balmain, Andrew Gn, Lida Baday, Belville Sasoon, David Hayes, and others. The West End shop designers include Hugo Boss, Strellson, and others.

While operated by Simpsons, the St. Regis Room, offered some of the most exclusive fashion collections in Canada. Dior, Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent, Claude Montana, Courreges, and many others were featured in this luxury department.

Simpsons in popular culture

From 1981 to 1987, children across the United States and Canada saw Simpsons as the setting for the television show Today's Special, which used the Yonge Street location for certain scenes. The store was never explicitly mentioned by name except in the closing credits, though the store's name was visible in certain scenes.

Simpsons is seen and mentioned in the 1988 movie Short Circuit 2 (although the store that was referred to as Simpsons was actually the Eaton's store).