Part of the Honest Ed’s sign may be saved after all

In a press release this morning, David Mirvish announced that he’ll be saving a small piece (okay, a giant piece) of his dad’s legendary discount emporium before it meets the wrecking ball. According to Mirvish, one of the four huge illuminated Honest Ed’s signs currently attached to the store’s exterior will be dismantled, refurbished, and then reinstalled outside the Ed Mirvish Theatre, near Yonge and Dundas. (The image above is a mockup, provided by Mirvish Productions, of what the sign might look like after the reinstallation is complete.)

Sign aficionados may be feeling a bit of whiplash. Earlier this week, there were reports in the media that Westbank, the housing developer that plans to demolish Honest Ed’s and replace it with a cluster of apartment buildings and shops, intended to scrap the sign in its entirety.

There’s currently no timeline for the sign’s reinstallation, but, judging by the extended saga of the Sam the Record Man sign (which remains uninstalled despite years of promises), the process could end up being more complicated than it sounds.