Towers Department Stores
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Towers was a Canadian discount department store chain owned by the Oshawa Group, a now-defunct grocery retailer and distributor.
[edit] History
The first store was opened in 1960 in Toronto (at the corner of Lawrence Ave. East and Midland Ave.). Each selling department within a Towers store was operated as a licensed concession. Some Towers/Bonimart stores offered services such as restaurants, photo labs, and pharmacies within the store. Some stores were also paired with an IGA grocery store. In Quebec, Towers was known as Bonimart. In 1990, Towers/Bonimart's 51 stores were purchased by Zellers for $181.5 million, and converted to the Zellers name or closed. The Bedford Place Mall location in Bedford Nova Scotia was converted to The Bay and then later a Zellers store. The flagship store in Toronto is now a Zellers store.
Tower's jingle: "At Towers everything connects - the last day of one sale is the first of the next".
"Extra Special For Your Family--Towers."
"You made us part of your family at Towers."
Towers mascot was an animated squirrel named Sparky. At the time of the Zellers buyout, print ads featured Sparky arm-in-arm with Zellers bear mascot, Zeddy. See also: List of Canadian department stores
