Grand and Toy closes its stores after 132 years
Well, it’s the end of an era—or rather, several eras. After 132 years of meeting Torontonians’ various stationery needs, Grand and Toy is closing its few remaining Canadian stores and turning into an online-only office-supply shop. “Our customers overwhelmingly prefer an online experience because it offers more products, a constantly growing selection and convenient door-to-door delivery,” said general manager Simon Finch in a recent release. The company opened its first retail store in Toronto in 1883, and has been supplying the city with Bristol board, Trapper Keepers and other school-year essentials ever since. (Or until a few years ago, at least, when the stationer began repositioning itself as a straight-laced, Staples-style business, rather than a go-to place for pipe cleaners and Podge.) According to the Star, the shops will start closing in the next few months.
![](http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https://torontolife.com/style/grand-and-toy-closing-stores/&title=Grand and Toy closes its stores after 132 years&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Grand_and_Toy_Bloor_West-624x395.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_271082" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Image: GTD Aquitaine/Wikipedia Commons)[/caption]
Well, it’s the end of an era—or rather, several eras. After 132 years of meeting Torontonians’ various stationery needs, Grand and Toy is closing its few remaining Canadian stores and turning into an online-only office-supply shop. “Our customers overwhelmingly prefer an online experience because it offers more products, a constantly growing selection and convenient door-to-door delivery,” said general manager Simon Finch in a recent release. The company opened its first retail store in Toronto in 1883, and has been supplying the city with Bristol board, Trapper Keepers and other school-year essentials ever since. (Or until a few years ago, at least, when the stationer began repositioning itself as a straight-laced, Staples-style business, rather than a go-to place for pipe cleaners and Podge.) According to the Star, the shops will start closing in the next few months.){kind=link}
Another Canadian Icon bites the dust!!
Still exists, just online. I buy from there for work stuff all the time.
Sad that they couldn’t find a way to market themselves to families for home and school needs. I guess Staples and DeSerres has taken that business. Their name will change soon too as they already go more by OfficeMax than Grand & Toy.
Stationery not stationary.
BTW, “The wife of Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak was working for TransCanada Energy’s Oakville gas plant even as the Tories were arguing to move the plant, recently released Ontario Power Authority documents show.
Deb Hutton, a former senior advisor to Mike Harris when he was premier, was paid $40,900 from October 2009 to October 2010, when the Liberal government abruptly cancelled the plant to appease local opposition.
The payments were listed in spreadsheets sent to the OPA in March 2011 detailing what TransCanada’s said were its “sunk costs” in developing the plant, as the two sides tried to thrash out a settlement.”
…various stationary needs,…Who approves these items- who is this Caroline Youdan and how does someone get a job reporting things that does not know the spelling of two separate words that mean to separate things – and essentially cannot use the correct word and spelling ? I am always shocked by the lack of attention to the BASICS in reporting and using the English language correctly. This is so poor it is alarming.
Horribly sad, I agree. I mean it’s SO easy to remember that ‘paper’ and ‘stationery’ end in ‘er’.
:-)
It’s an understandable oversight. What’s shocking, however, is that one week later no one at Toronto Life has fixed it.
More than one month later, and Toronto Life still hasn’t fixed it.
Thanks for the help with the typo, guys. Fixed now.