First Simpson's Store

Simpson's used to be a huge department store chain in Canada. So was Eaton's. And others. All are gone now. Simpson's, however, got its start in a small shop at 228 Main Street South in Newmarket, Ontario in 1858. This marker is embedded in the sidewalk outside this address.

Robert Simpson and his partner William Trent opened the store - Simpson & Trent - on the corner of Main and Timothy Streets. In 1870, a fire destroyed the store. In 1871, Simpson moved to Toronto and founded a new department store and chain: The Robert Simpson Company.

The Hudson's Bay Company bought the firm in 1978 and ran it into the ground over the next number of years. It finally disappeared completely in 1991.

Linda and I both worked at the Queen Street flagship store in Toronto, she in the 1970s and 1980s and I in the mid-1980s. I worked on the 7th floor in books, Linda worked in the basement in the cash office. We met at a second workplace we both happened to work at miles away and only then realized we were both in the same store downtown!

More at Wikipedia.