See more of the Virtual Museum of Canada
image image
Mail Box Before E-commerce: A History of Canadian 
Mail-order Catalogues image
Mail box
Mail box
image
image Main Menu Sources Contributors Travelling Exhibition Feedback image Table of Contents
image
image   For Collectors - For Teachers - For Students
image
image Timeline
image
Topics
Fashion to Furnishings
Capturing Customers
Company Histories
From 
Order to Delivery
image
Timeline
Catalogues (1880-1975)
Games and Activities
image
  
Timeline
Mail Order Origins 1880-1914 1914-1929 The 
1930s 1939-1945 1945-2003

The Story of the Mail-order Catalogue

The 1930s: Corporate Expansion, Customer Cash Shortages

As a result of the optimism of the 1920s, a number of mail-order operations committed to further expansions. However, as the Depression deepened across the country, many were forced to reduce the size of their catalogues, cease sales of some items, and limit or cancel expansion plans. Hundreds of mail order staff employees were laid off. The Depression also deepened the anger of local storeowners towards mail-order companies.

       

1930

  image  
  Woodward's Spring Summer 1936, cover.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

Woodward's expands its mail-order business to serve customers throughout British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.


       

1930

  image  
  Simpson's Fall Winter 1930-31, cover.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

Simpson's opens a new store in Montreal and a new printing and catalogue building in Toronto.


       

1931

  image  
  Prairie mansion, Eaton's Home Building 
Book, 1929, p. 6.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

Eaton's stops selling houses and barns through the catalogue.


       

1933

  image  

Eaton's Winnipeg mail-order office handles 47 735 transactions a day, but average mail orders drop from $1.93 in 1924 to $1.26 in 1933.


       

1934

  image  
  Army and Navy Mid-winter 1933-34, 
cover.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

Opposition to mail-order catalogues from retail merchants across Canada leads the government to establish the Royal Commission on Price Spreads and Mass Buying. The Army and Navy catalogue specifically states that merchants cannot purchase through the catalogues, suggesting that their prices are so low that stores would want to purchase from them.


       

1934

  image  
  Eaton's 50th Anniversary, Fall Winter 
1934-35, cover.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

Eaton's catalogue celebrates its 50th anniversary: "The EATON Catalogue is now a Canadian institution in the West, as in the East."

       

1935

  image  
  Red Horner endorsement, Eaton's Fall 
Winter 1937-38, p. 337.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

Hockey greats King Clancy, Lorne Chabot, and Red Horner of the Toronto Maple Leafs begin endorsing equipment in the Eaton's catalogue. Across the country, interest in hockey is fostered through radio and mail-order catalogues.


       

1936

  image  
  P. T. Legaré Motors, 
nd.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

The firm of P. T. Legaré declares bankruptcy, less than ten years after the founder passes away.


       

1936

  image  
  Mail-order centre, Brewster Street,  
Montréal, Dupuis Frères Automne hiver 1936-37.  
  

Enlarge image.

  
     

The new mail-order building of Dupuis Frères in Saint-Henri, south of downtown Montréal, opens.


       

1939

  image  

Anticipating an upturn in consumer demand, Simpson's expands its mail-order plant capacity in Toronto, Halifax, and Regina. War intervenes and the renovations are not completed until its end.


1939-1945: The Catalogue at War

 

   
top of page
image
image image