Recently, I was talking to my daughters about Banners Discount Department Store that existed somewhere in the vicinity of Millen and DeWitt Roads in Stoney Creek. I remember that it was close enough to my home that when I was 13 years old I walked to the Banners store to buy a birthday gift for the little girl I baby sat in my Worsley Road neighbourhood (one street over from Millen Road). Tonight as I was checking a Facebook page that is dedicated to all things related to my hometown, I was amused to see mention of Banners Discount Department Store since I have a thing about duplicity and Carl Jung’s theory about synchronicity (meaningful coincidence of two or more events). While I couldn’t find any photos of the store, I did find the interesting article that follows. C.M.
New residential subdivisions of the 1960s led to suburban retail. Subdivisions were seen as too large for the general stores of yesteryear, and too small for the kind of massive department stores found in urban downtowns. The decade saw new, smaller retail chains open their doors in the Toronto area, including Towers, Sayvette's, Zellers Country Fair, Miracle Mart, Woolco, and K-Mart.
In 1961, developers Morry and Louis Wingold opened their first “Banner Discount Department Store” in Stoney Creek. Brampton's Northwood Park, built by Wingold Construction, welcomed the second Banner store in September of that year. The Wingold brothers wanted to devote attention to their construction business and, according to the Toronto Daily Star, hired “a succession of managers from the United States” to run Banner.
I found this artist rendering of a Banner Discount Department, which I think may be a drawing of the proposed Brampton store; however, like most chain stores, the Stoney Creek Banner may have looked similar. C.M.
Banner wanted to be bold, deciding to disrupt the way cars were sold. The Stoney Creek Ford dealership was convinced by the Wingold brothers to start selling their vehicles for a flat rate at the Banner store. For every car sale, the store received a $35 commission. Banner could break even on their floor space, selling just 150 cars a year.
These sales tactics caught the attention of the local media.
“Why can't you save time, trouble and heartache by buying a car the way you buy a typewriter,” asked Toronto Daily Star columnist Pierre Berton. Imagine that, walking into a discount department store and making the purchase, without a “series of wild bargaining sessions.”
The Wingolds calculated that any earnings after that would be pure profit for the department store. The Star reported that Ford Motor Company eventually put its foot down and stopped auto sales of their vehicles through the Banner store. Within days, Studebaker stepped in to take their place. The Star reported that the concept was to be expanded to Brampton.
After less than two years in the retail world, the brothers realized that Banner would either need more hands-on supervision, or they would have to sell. They closed the Stoney Creek location in January 1963, and placed the Brampton store on the market. Brampton’s location, with 50 to 60 employees, closed in the summer of 1963. This short-lived commercial retail experiment was over.
This information contained in this blog is credited to NICK MOREAU, PEEL ART GALLERY, MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES BRAMPTON GUARDIAN April 4th, 2019. Edits by Carolyn MacArthur.
Throwback Thursday is provided by Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives. PAMA is a place to explore, learn and make connections about Peel Region’s culture and heritage.