A Store Like No Other: Eaton's of Winnipeg

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

This story of the jewel in the crown of Canada’s greatest retail
empire packs all the details in, from the name of a favourite delivery
horse in 1909, to the famous Timothy Eaton philosophy of retailing, to
the price of lunch in 1911, to the square footage of the mall store, to
the number of floats in the Santa Claus parade, to tales of ways to
recycle the catalogue.

The history roams back and forth over the decades, from the opening of
“the Big Store” in central Winnipeg in 1905 to the closure of the
last of the Eaton’s outlets in the city in the late 1990s. The book
gives short shrift to the Eaton family and the management of the
enterprise. Instead, it has the earmarks of a public-relations exercise,
hammering home the message that Eaton’s was a great employer, a great
corporate citizen, and a great retailer of every imaginable product. The
emphasis is on the many components of the business—clothing,
groceries, deliveries, mail order, manufacturing, restaurants,
etc.—and on the “family” employment environment, including the
store’s role in supporting its workers and its community during war,
flood, fires, and storms.

The book’s layout is chaotic, the graphics are distracting, and many
of the photos are little more than a grey blur. However, nostalgic
Winnipegers and local social history buffs will likely enjoy the story.