Honest Ed's

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View from the corner of Bathhurst and Bloor Street

Honest Ed’s was a department store in downtown Toronto , Canada that became known for the idiosyncratic, striking design of its exterior and sales rooms, as well as individual sales promotions. Honest Ed's closed on December 31, 2016.

history

Honest Ed's is named after its founder, Ed Mirvish , who founded the department store on the corner of Bloor Street and Bathhurst Street in 1948 and ran it for almost 60 years. Mirvish was born in Colonial Beach , Virginia , USA and moved to Toronto with his Jewish family as a child .

The two-story building complex takes up a whole block and is covered on the street fronts with huge billboards in red and yellow , which are illuminated by 23,000 light bulbs. Inside, the cheap items on offer are arranged in a colorful mix so that you can find winter clothes next to vacuum cleaners or groceries next to toys. In between, posters from old films or from performances by the founder's theaters are shown. Additional decorations include photos of actors and musicians who have performed in Mirvish's theaters in Toronto or London . The price tags in the department store are still hand-painted, as are the statements on the outside such as: Come in and Get Lost! . Another motto is: Welcome, don't faint on low prices, there's no place to lie down!

Honest Ed's became known for its lurid decoy offers . Another well-known publicity measure is the distribution of free, frozen turkeys before holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas. From 1988 until his death, Mirvish hosted his birthday parties on the streets in front of his department store, with free cakes, drinks, sausages and sweets being given out. The celebrations still take place today and are accompanied by music bands.

In July 2013 it was announced that Honest Ed's was for sale and that condominiums would be built on the site. David Mirvish, Honest Ed's son, later announced that business would continue for two to three years until construction was completed. The last opening day was December 31, 2016.

Effects in cultural life

Honest Ed's has been the location of many films and TV shows that take place in Toronto, for example in the film The Long Kiss Goodnight , which was shown in Germany with the title Deadly Christmas . The department store could also be seen in the background of a scene in the film Scott Pilgrim Against the World .

The installation artist Iris Häussler , who comes from Germany, showed the installation and action Honest Threads in the department store in March 2009 . In a kind of boutique, visitors could hand in items of clothing together with a personal story. Other visitors were able to borrow the clothes for a few days and in this way experience what it feels like in “other people's clothes”.

Publications

  • Honest Ed Mirvish: How to Build an Empire on an Orange Crate or 121 Lessons I never Learned in School , 1996.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b So long to iconic Honest Ed's: Editorial. Toronto Star, December 28, 2016, accessed January 1, 2017 .
  2. ↑ You can get this for free in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung on December 9, 2012, page V3
  3. ↑ Message about sale in the Toronto Star , accessed February 10, 2016