The Art of Window Dressing

"Displays weren't only about the merchandise but in creating a whole elaborate scene reflective of the times."

In the early days of department stores, the windows were simply used for storage.  However, by the late 1800's, store owners saw them as a way to attract window shoppers.  The art of window dressing started to come into its own.  In 1898, the National Association of Window Dressers was formed. Publications appeared offering tips on the topic:  Nearly Three Hundred Ways to Dress Show Windows by J. H. Wilson Marriott in 1889 and A Wide Awake Window Dresser by Frank L. Carr in 1894.  One early window dresser, Frank Baum, put out a publication about the topic called The Show Window Magazine in 1899.  "Baum was an incredible innovator and his displays literally stopped shoppers in their tracks," explained Professor Barry Davies.  

American department stores started to practice window dressing including New York City's Macy's and Bloomingdale's , Chicago's Marshall Fields, and Philadelphia's Wanamaker's.  R. H. Macy featured one of the first major window displays, featuring a collection of porcelain dolls and scenes from Uncle Tom's Cabin.  The competition was stiff as other stores tried to up the ante with their window displays.  Early window designs featured electric lights, mannequins and novelty materials. 

"Displays weren't only about the merchandise but in creating a whole elaborate scene reflective of the times."  Different decades focussed on different themes.  For instance, the Twenties featured Egyptian motifs as King Tut's tomb had just been discovered; the Thirties stressed surrealism in movies and musicals; the Forties promoted patriotism, such as war bonds and the Red Cross; the Fifties focussed on the traditional; the Sixties saw the appearance of the skinny model, Twiggy; the Seventies pushed the bold and the shocking.  

Unveiling display windows became part of the adventure at Christmas time.  Macy's would draw their blinds until after the Thanksgiving Day Parade and the arrival of Santa.  Then they would unveil their magical display for all of New York to feast its eyes on.  "Windows became a destination attraction all their own."  At New York's Lord & Taylor, 250,000 people would pass by their windows every day.  

Toronto Eaton's was also known for its window displays.  Parents would watch the Santa Claus Parade with their children, entertained by the craft and creativity of the scene inside the window, as they waited for a chance to see Santa.

A beautiful Christmas scene from Toronto Eaton's circa 1958 courtesy http://whyilovetoronto.tumblr.com/post/38397663591

  

Lunch with Lady Eaton

"Flora McCrae Eaton was a visionary, a philanthropist, a socialite, a businesswoman, a world traveller, and a mother of six, but she also ushered in a shopping and dining aesthetic that revolutionized the retail and restaurant experience for generations of Canadians."

In the early 1900's, Eaton's had its own bakery, its own dairy and its own lunchroom which served 5000 meals a day.  Flora McCrae, who married Jack Eaton and became Lady Eaton, was largely responsible for the dining experience.  In January of 1931, she pioneered the opening of the Georgian Room in the Queen Street store, one of more than a dozen grand dining rooms in Eaton's across Canada.  Ladies would don gowns, hats and gloves and take a seat in the 650-seat art deco dining room with the cathedral ceiling, listening to the strains of a full orchestra. 

Guests could nibble on tea sandwiches or they could eat a complete hot meal.  Lady Eaton oversaw the menu which included:  chicken pot pie, cheese dreams, Waldorf salad, red velvet cake, Queen Elizabeth cake and Lady Eaton's Special Order Oatmeal Cookies.  To learn more about the grand dining rooms, read Lunch with Lady Eaton at http://www.amazon.ca/Lunch-Lady-Eaton-Inside-Dining/dp/1550226509/.

http://www.amazon.ca/Lunch-Lady-Eaton-Inside-Dining/dp/1550226509

Going Up?

When I was growing up, I remember my mom taking me to the Hamilton Eaton's store on James Street.  A highlight was the ride on the elevator.  It was a real experience.  Two things stand out in my mind:  the iron bars which folded like an accordion when they opened and closed; and the elevator operators who wore white gloves and a uniform.

Timothy Eaton had an elevator installed at his Queen Street store in 1886, the first retail passenger elevator in Toronto.  The elevator, likely an Otis cage elevator, served three, and later, eight floors. Customers had the luxury of shopping from floor to floor without having to lug their parcels up and down flights of stairs.  Elevator operators, always polite, wore uniforms similar to those worn by stewardesses in the early years of air travel.  As the elevator stopped at each floor, the elevator operator would call out the goods for sale there.  

The most popular stop for children would be the fifth floor, where a plethora of toys were on display at Toyland.  In December, Santa Claus waited for tots to sit on his knee and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.  For housewives, a popular stop would have been the ninth floor where the Georgian Room was located, once considered Toronto's finest restaurant.  Housewives could listen to an orchestra play as they dined, a welcome change from cooking and washing dishes at home.

With the invention of automatic elevators, elevator operators were no longer needed.  Riding the elevator lost its appeal.  It was no longer an experience, but simply a mode of transportation.

Calgary Eaton's elevator operators circa 1942 courtesy http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/stampede-100-day-countdown-1942.

The Maharaja's of Eaton's

Maharaja:  a Hindu prince or king in India ranking above a raja. 

Timothy Eaton, eager to fill the pages of his catalogue, sent buyers overseas to purchase the highest quality goods:  fine china from England, tweed suits from Scotland, rugs from the Orient, crystal from Czechoslovakia, high fashion from France.  As early as 1893, Timothy opened a foreign buying office in London, England.  Five years later, he opened one in Paris, France.  Offices were added in Manchester and New York in 1911; in Zurich, Switzerland in 1912; in Belfast and Leicester in 1913; and in Yokohama (1918) and Kobe (1919).

While most of the trips were a success, disaster struck when some buyers purchased tickets to the Titanic; a buyer named Mr. Graham went down with the ship (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/09/unused-ticket-to-titanic.html).  The First World War interrupted Eaton's buying sprees in Germany.  Three buyers drowned when the Lusitania was torpedoed in 1916.  An Eaton's buyer was killed in the Tokyo earthquake of 1923.  However, most buyers came home to Canada safely.  Their purchases helped make the Eaton's name synonymous with quality.

Everything From Oriental Rugs to Prefabricated Houses

"This catalogue is destined to grow wherever the maple leaf grows, throughout the vast Dominion.  We have the facilities for filling mail orders satisfactorily, no matter how far the letters have to come and the goods have to go." (Timothy Eaton, 1887)

When the Eaton's catalogue first came off the press in 1884, it was a mere 32 pages.  By the 1920's, the catalogue had grown to 500 pages.  In 1890, there were more than 100 clerks filling catalogue orders.  By 1896, Eaton's was sending out 135,000 parcels by post and 74,000 by express.  By 1903, the mail order operation was so large that it had to move to a separate building in Toronto.  Here are some of the products featured in the Eaton's catalogue over its 90 year history:

• clothing
• farm implements
• silverware
• china
• prefabricated houses
• jewelry
• patterns
• toys
• dolls
• books
• windmills
• lamps
• hats
• Oriental rugs
• records
• crystal
• train sets
• appliances
• luggage
• sporting goods
• fishing accessories
• hair permanent machines
• accordions
• pianos
• guitars
• phonographs
• vacuums
• mattresses
• medicines
• stationery
• cameras
• seeds
• bulbs
• baby carriages
• women's furs
• linens
• drapes
• blacksmith's tools
• candy
• priest's cassocks
• Klondike miner's clothing

Prefabricated Houses in Eaton's Catalogue circa 1913 courtesy http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/cpm/catalog/cat2104e.shtml#1222116.

Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded

"Consider again the Eaton's slogan:  Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded.  It said nothing about prices, low or otherwise.  It simply promised Timothy Eaton's Irish Protestant common sense: satisfaction or your money back.  Customers believed it." (John J. Wells, The Hamilton Spectator)

When Timothy Eaton's store opened for business on Queen Street in Toronto, no one had ever heard of the slogan "Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded".  People were used to haggling when they bought goods.  They were used to bartering:  the doctor would offer his services in exchange for a sac of flour.  That all changed when Timothy Eaton came to town.  He sold his goods for cash only at one fixed price.  He guaranteed the quality of his products.  "Whether you were a naive child or a shrewd businessman you could rely on the same price, service and outstanding guarantee," explained one website (http://www.dippam.ac.uk/ied/records/37189).  

Unlike today, Timothy Eaton offered "no gimmicks, no fine print, no tricks".  The relationship he built with his customers was based solely on trust.  That trust kept his customers coming back again and again.  One 1937 patron explained that she "felt like she was in the home of an old friend" when she shopped at Eaton's.  Customers knew what to expect when they walked the aisles of an Eaton's store.  Consumer confidence led to consumer satisfaction.  Generations of Canadians reaped the benefits of the promise "Goods Satisfactory or Money Refunded".  It was the key to Timothy Eaton's success.

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5441351-the-way-we-shopped-hamilton-and-the-golden-age-of-the-department-store/

Eaton's Catalogue: Icon of Canadian Culture

In 2012, I mentioned Eaton's to my daughter and she didn't know what it was.  What a shame that an "icon of Canadian culture" is now forgotten.  Timothy Eaton's first large department store was located on Queen Street in Toronto.  Later dozens of Eaton's department stores popped up all over the country.  In fact, it was estimated that 60% of Canadians lived within a 30 minute drive of an Eaton's.

One of Timothy Eaton's secrets to success was his mail order catalogue, which debuted in 1884.  If Henry Ford perfected the assembly line, Timothy Eaton perfected the catalogue business.  In a day and age before the Internet, the catalogue was a valuable tool for advertising.  Here is a brief history.

Timothy Eaton first published a 34 page catalogue in 1884, in large part as a means for Canada's rural residents to have access to the same products that city dwellers enjoyed.  by 1896, the mail order office was filling a tall order:  135000 parcels were delivered by post as well as 74,000 by express.  By 1920, Canadians could buy everything from clothes to farm implements to prefabricated homes and barns.  Catalogue offices were located in Toronto, Winnipeg and Moncton.

The year 1915 saw the first colour catalogue while four years later the first photographs were introduced, interspersed with illustrations.  Timothy Eaton tried to cater to specific groups, not just housewives:  Klondike miners and prospectors, Maritimes residents and French Canadians.  In fact, Eaton's started publishing a regular French catalogue by 1927.

Catalogue de Noel circa 1952.

Eaton's introduced incentives to lengthen the list of people who received the annual catalogues.  One B.C. housewife sent in a list of neighbour's names and received a free winter coat.

Winter coats from Eaton's Catalogue.

Becoming an icon of Canadian culture, the Eaton's catalogue served not just as a mail order service but also reading material for new Canadian immigrants to learn English, paper for paper dolls for young girls, goalie pads for young boys and toilet paper in Canadian outhouses.  The catalogue was even featured in Canadian literature:  read Le Chandail by Roch Carrier to learn about a Montreal hockey fan who orders a Canadiens hockey jersey from Eaton's but instead receives a Toronto Maple Leafs sweater.  His mother addresses her letter, "Cher Monsieur Eaton", as she tries to rectify the problem.

Eaton's Catalogue circa 1942.