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Mail Box Before E-commerce: A History of Canadian Mail-order Catalogues image
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Timeline
Mail Order Origins 1880-1914 1914-1929 The 1930s 1939-1945 1945-2003

The Story of the Mail-order Catalogue

1880-1914: Early Beginnings of Department Store Catalogues in Canada

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Canada's population grew dramatically. Mail-order catalogues, primarily affiliated with large department stores in Montreal and Toronto, reached markets in rural Canada.

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1882

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  Carsley's, Notre Dame Street, Fall Winter 1901-02, p. 2.  
  

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Carsley's, a department store on the north side of Notre-Dame Street, just west of Saint-Jean in Montreal, introduces the first mail-order catalogue in Canada. By 1894, its "immense mail-order department [is] one of the wonders of the establishment,"


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1884

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  Eaton's Fall Winter 1884, cover.  
  

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First Eaton's catalogue, called "The Wishing Book" is distributed to visitors at the Toronto exhibition. Timothy Eaton expresses his vision for the catalogue in 1887: "This catalogue is destined to go wherever the maple leaf grows, throughout the vast Dominion. We have the facilities for filling mail orders satisfactorily, no matter how far the letter has to come and the goods have to go."
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1890

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  John Murphy's store, 1909.  
  

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By 1890, John Murphy's department store in Montréal is active in mail-order from its five-storey building at the corner of Notre-Dame and Saint-Pierre Streets.
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1891

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  Clothing for boys and youth, Morgan's Fall Winter 1893-94, p. 95.  
  

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Henry Morgan & Company, which has operated a department store since 1845, introduces a mail-order service around 1891, the year in which the store moves to Montréal's new shopping district along St. Catherine Street.
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1892

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  W. H. Scroggie Spring Summer 1905, cover.  
  

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Scroggie's department store in Montréal expands and introduces a mail-order catalogue. The company soon calls itself "The Mail Order House of Eastern Canada."
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1893

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  Simpson's Fall Winter 1893, cover.  
  

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Simpson's, a Toronto-based department store that has dabbled in mail order since 1885, introduces a full mail-order catalogue and offers free samples.


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1896

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  Hudson's Bay Company Price List Fall 1901, p. 4  
  

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The Hudson's Bay Company's Winnipeg office publishes a catalogue on the eve of the British company's 226th anniversary.
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1897

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  Woodward's Spring Summer 1919, cover.  
  

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Woodward's department store in Vancouver introduces its first catalogue.
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1898

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  La Compagnie Paquet Limitée Automne hiver 1908-09, cover.  
  

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Zéphirin Paquet who operates a large department store in the lower town of Québec, enters the mail-order business from around 1897 to 1913.
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1899

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Robert Simpson dies and Simpson's is taken over by three investors, H. H. Fudger, J. W. Flavelle, and A. E. Ames.
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1900

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  First Eaton Beauty doll, ca 1900.  
  

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Eaton catalogue presents the first Eaton Beauty doll, made by Armand Marseille, Germany.


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1904

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Following on the publication of a number of specialized catalogues for the Western market, the Klondike Catalogue (1898) and the Settlers' Catalogue (1903), Eaton's opens the Winnipeg store and introduces the Western catalogue.


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1908

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  W. H Scroggie Vente de Janvier et de Février 1910, cover.  
  

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Twenty years ahead of its Toronto-based competitors, Eaton's and Simpson's, Scroggie's introduces French-language catalogues and offers to send them to customers who had received English ones by mistake.
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1909

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Carsley's sells its business to A. E. Rae & Company. The store is known as Rea's until 1911 when, after W. H. Goodwin became managing director, it becomes Goodwin's Montreal Limited and then simply Goodwin's Limited.
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1910s

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  Women opening orders, Eaton's mail order, ca 1910.  
  

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As with department store sales staff, the mail-order work force at Canada's largest retail operations consists overwhelmingly of women.
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1910s

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  Eaton's sewing notions brands, ca 1910.  
  

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Department stores increase the use of trademarks and brand names to promote customer loyalty. Eaton brands include "EATON," "Eatonia," "Acme," "Cravinette," "Edgerite," "Imperial,""Foundation," "Multiplex," "Braemore," "Lady Fair," "Birkdale," and "Renown."


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1910s

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  J. Flanagan, Central Dry Goods Stores, ca 1900-03, cover.  
  

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  Pryce-Jones Fall Winter 1912-13, cover.  
  

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Across the country, smaller department stores, like J. Flanagan's in Moncton, Christie Grant in Winnipeg (1914), Cairns in Saskatoon (1916), Ramsey's in Edmonton (1916) and Pryce-Jones in Calgary (1911), issue their own catalogues. As well as selling goods, these catalogues serve to remind rural patrons to shop in the stores.
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1913

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  Hudson's Bay Company Fall Winter 1910-11, cover.  
  

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The Hudson's Bay Company discontinues its mail-order catalogue, although customers continued to shop by mail through the Personal Shopper, and through store catalogues in remote locations. With management still based in London, England, the HBC underestimates the growing Western Canadian market and the potential to build upon its networks established through the fur trade.

1914-1929: The First World War and the Aftermath on the Homefront: Expansion, Growth, and Innovation

 

 
   
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