Sears Canada

This article is about the defunct Canadian department store chain. For the American department store chain, see Sears. For the Mexican department store chain, see Sears Mexico. For other uses, see Sears (disambiguation).

Sears Canada Inc.
FormerlySimpsons-Sears (1952–1984)
Company typePublic
Expert Market: SRSCQ
IndustryRetail
Founded1952; 72 years ago (1952)
DefunctJanuary 14, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-01-14)
FateBankruptcy and liquidation
HeadquartersToronto Eaton Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Key people
Brandon G. Stranzl (executive chairman until October 16, 2017[1])


Becky Penrice (executive vice-president & chief operating officer)[2]


Herbert Becker (chief financial officer)[2]
ProductsClothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewellery, beauty products, appliances, housewares, tools, electronics and toys
Revenue$3.146 billion (2015)[3]
Decrease US$−$67.9 million (2015)[3]
Total equity$554.2 million (2015)[3]
Number of employees
58 (April 2018)[4]
ParentSimpsons (1952–1983)
Sears (1952–2005)
Sears Holdings (2005–2018)
WebsiteArchive of website before company dissolved over bankruptcy and liquidation

Sears Canada Inc. was a publicly-traded Canadian company affiliated with the American-based Sears department store chain. In operation from 1952 until January 14, 2018, and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company began as Simpsons-Sears—a joint venture between the Canadian Simpsons department store chain and the American Sears chain—which operated a national mail order business and co-branded Simpsons-Sears stores modelled after those of Sears in the U.S. After the Hudson's Bay Company purchased Simpsons in 1978, the joint venture was dismantled and Hudson's Bay sold its shares in the joint venture to Sears; with Sears now fully owning the company, it was renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. In 1999, Sears Canada acquired the remaining assets and locations of the historic Canadian chain Eaton's. From 2014, Sears Holdings owned a 10% share in the company.[5][6] ESL Investments was the largest shareholder of Sears Canada. Sears Canada operated 125 full-line department stores at its' peak.

In 2016, Sears Canada had a network that included 140 corporate stores (including full-line, Sears Home, and Sears Outlet stores), 71 Hometown stores, over 900 catalogue and online merchandise pick-up locations, 69 Sears Travel offices, and a nationwide repair and service network. The company also published a general merchandise catalogue until the last quarter of 2016 and offered shopping online at sears.ca until October 19, 2017.[7]

After filing for creditor protection in June 2017, Sears Canada announced it would close 20 full-line locations, 15 Home stores, 10 Outlet stores, and 14 Sears Hometown stores.[8] The closings resulted in 2,900 employee layoffs.[9] These stores officially closed on Sunday, October 1, 2017.[10] In September 2017, Sears Canada announced the closing of 10 additional stores, in addition to the 59 store closings previously announced in June.[11] On October 10, 2017, Sears Canada announced that it would seek court approval to shutter all of its remaining stores in Canada and lay off 11,240 remaining staff.[12] The approval was granted by the Ontario Superior Court on October 13, 2017.[13]

Liquidation sales began on October 19, 2017. The remaining Sears stores closed on January 14, 2018. Store fixtures and equipment from the closed stores were sold until January 26, 2018.[14][15]

  1. ^ "Sears Canada executive chairman Brandon Stranzl steps down". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. The Canadian Press. October 16, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Sears Canada Names Becky Penrice as Chief Operating Officer" (Press release). Sears Canada. April 4, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2022 – via Newswire.
  3. ^ a b c "Annual Reports". investorroom.com. Archived from the original on December 15, 2018. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  4. ^ "Seventeenth Report of the Monitor-11Apr2018(Part 1)" (PDF). April 11, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2018.
  5. ^ Shaw, Hollie (October 2, 2014). "Sears Holding Corp to raise $380-million through sale of most of its stake in Sears Canada". Financial Post. Toronto. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  6. ^ Shaw, Hollie (January 8, 2013). "Are Sears Canada's days numbered? Poor results could have U.S. retailers circling soon". Financial Post. Toronto. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  7. ^ "Sears Canada Reports Second Quarter Results". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. September 7, 2016. Retrieved December 5, 2016.
  8. ^ "Sears Canada is closing 59 stores and cutting 2,900 jobs in restructuring plan". Montreal Gazette. Bloomberg News. June 22, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
  9. ^ "Sears Canada cutting 2,900 jobs". June 22, 2017. Archived from the original on August 4, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  10. ^ Kopun, Francine (September 30, 2017). "Sears Canada to close 10 more stores, including Fairview and Scarborough locations". Toronto Star. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  11. ^ "Sears closing another 10 stores, including the Fairview mall location in Pointe-Claire". Montreal Gazette. September 30, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
  12. ^ "Sears Canada Approves Plan to Liquidate Most of Retail Chain's Assets". The Wall Street Journal. October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  13. ^ Ligaya, Armina (October 13, 2017). "Sears Canada liquidation approved". CTV News. Retrieved November 27, 2017.
  14. ^ Wright, Lisa (January 12, 2018). "Final Sears stores close Sunday, marking the end of an era". Toronto Star.
  15. ^ Shaw, Hollie (19 October 2017). "'I'm sad that Sears is closing, but that's besides the point': Bargain hunters not impressed as final sale begins". Financial Post. Retrieved 2017-11-27.