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{{Short description|Defunct retail company}}
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{{Infobox company
| name
| logo
| logo_size = 300
| type = [[Private company|Private]] (1957–1969)<br>[[Public company|Public]] (1969–1996)
| industry
| fate = Filed for [[bankruptcy]]
| foundation
| founder
| defunct
| location_city
| location_country = [[Canada]]
| locations
| key_people = Jack Stupp ([[President (corporate title)|President]])
| products
| parent
| website
}}
'''Consumers Distributing''' (known in [[Quebec]] as '''Distribution aux Consommateurs''', and informally as '''Consumers''') was a [[catalog merchant|catalogue store]] in [[Canada]] and the [[United States]] that operated from 1957 to 1996. At its peak, the company operated
Consumers Distributing aimed to reduce costs for customers by stocking merchandise in a warehouse-type stocking system instead of displaying them in a costly showroom. Customers made their selections from a catalogue, filled out a form listing the items they wanted, then waited for stock staff to retrieve the items from the warehouse. The business model of Consumers Distributing has been described as "Internet shopping before the Internet".<ref name="woes"/>
==History==
The first Consumers Distributing store was opened in 1957 by Jack Stupp and Sydney Druckman in [[Toronto]]. The company was taken public in 1969. In 1978, [[Oshawa Group]] sold the 50% interest it had acquired.<ref
Consumers Distributing purchased the 42-store Cardinal Distributors catalogue chain from [[Steinberg's (supermarket)|Steinberg Inc.]] and the 70-store American chain Consumers from [[The May Department Stores Company|May Department Stores]], bringing its total store count to approximately 400 in 1981.<ref name="citizen">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2194&dat=19811118&id=2a4yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5-4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1164,5107737 ''Ottawa Citizen'', 18 November 1981] "600 to lose jobs as Bay closes Shop-Rite stores"</ref>
During the 1980s, Consumers Distributing built a chain of toy stores called Toy City (Toyville in [[Quebec]]). In 1990 and 1991, some stores became Toy City/Consumers Distributing stores. They closed in the mid-1990s.
Consumers Distributing was bought by the Quebec-based grocery retailer [[Provigo]] in 1987,<!-- <ref>[http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/78/PROVIGO-INC.html Reference for Business] Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Provigo Inc.</ref>-->{{cn|date=November 2019}} then was sold in 1993 to a group controlled by [[Ackermans & van Haaren]], a Belgian holding company.
In the 1990s, Consumers Distributing struggled to compete with [[Zellers]] and then [[Walmart Canada]]. Consumers Distributing sought bankruptcy protection in 1996.<ref>{{cite news|title=Consumers Distributing closes the book on catalogue shopping|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/throwback-thursday-edmonton-stereos-parks-1.4241144|accessdate=August 10, 2017|work=CBC News|date=August 9, 1996}}</ref><ref name="woes"/>
Ten years following the bankruptcy, former Consumers Distributing employee Marc King relaunched the company as an online retailer. The new Consumers Distributing website operated in the run up to the 2012 holiday season, taking orders for furniture and brand-name electronics. However,
==Store format==▼
The main focus of the retailer was jewellery, appliances, kitchenware, toys, personal care, discount furniture, electronics and seasonal goods. The retail store layout consisted of a series of glass cabinets that displayed merchandise. Customers were for the most part required to select their products from catalogues that were located throughout the store, filling out a request form for the item they desired. This form was given to a store clerk and processed for fulfilment, with the goods stored in non-public space in a warehouse system stock area, behind the counters.▼
There were two main catalogue launches per year, with seasonal mini-catalogues issued more frequently to highlight certain items. The entire line changed twice a year with few exceptions. New items were introduced only with a new catalogue. A few specialty lines, such as batteries, film and some jewellery lines on counter racks, and were not found in the catalogue. Photo processing was another service available in many stores.▼
==Competitors and similar retailers==▼
[[Hudson's Bay Company]], which operates Canadian [[department store]]s under [[Hudson's Bay (department store)|The Bay]] and (formerly) [[Zellers]] names, acquired the small [[Shop-Rite (Canada)|Shop-Rite]] catalogue chain in 1972 and quickly expanded it in an attempt to compete with Consumers Distributing. The chain never reached profitability, and ceased operations in 1982.<ref name="citizen" />▼
American competition was mainly from the
▲Ten years following the bankruptcy, former Consumers Distributing employee Marc King relaunched the company as an online retailer. The new Consumers Distributing website operated in the run up to the 2012 holiday season, taking orders for furniture and brand-name electronics, but the site was shuttered in January 2013, and King was accused of owing back wages to employees.<ref name="woes"/> In May 2015, the company was issued a compliance order by Consumer Protection BC for deceptive acts and practices and for failing to issue refunds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vancouver, BC business faces compliance order, administrative penalty from Consumer Protection BC |url=https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/vancouver-bc-business-faces-compliance-order-administrative-penalty-consumer-protection-bc/ |publisher=Consumer Protection BC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428173838/https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/vancouver-bc-business-faces-compliance-order-administrative-penalty-consumer-protection-bc/ |archive-date=April 28, 2019 |date=May 27, 2015 |accessdate=August 29, 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The regulator reopened the investigation in October 2016 when it received a new complaint, noting that the company still had not paid penalties from the prior investigation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Consumer Protection BC reopens investigation; impacted consumers asked to come forward |url=https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/consumer-protection-bc-reopens-investigation-impacted-consumers-asked-come-forward/ |publisher=Consumer Protection BC |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430032415/https://www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/consumer-protection-bc-reopens-investigation-impacted-consumers-asked-come-forward/ |archive-date=April 30, 2019 |date=October 31, 2016 |accessdate=August 29, 2021 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
▲==Store format==
▲The main focus of the retailer was jewellery, appliances, kitchenware, toys, personal care, discount furniture, electronics and seasonal goods. The retail store layout consisted of a series of glass cabinets that displayed merchandise. Customers were for the most part required to select their products from catalogues that were located throughout the store, filling out a request form for the item they desired. This form was given to a store clerk and processed for fulfilment, with the goods stored in non-public space in a warehouse system stock area, behind the counters.
▲There were two main catalogue launches per year, with seasonal mini-catalogues issued more frequently to highlight certain items. The entire line changed twice a year with few exceptions. New items were introduced only with a new catalogue. A few specialty lines, such as batteries, film and some jewellery lines on counter racks, and were not found in the catalogue. Photo processing was another service available in many stores.
==Business model issues and attempts to address them==
Consumers Distributing was plagued by the perception that items were frequently out of stock due to the catalogue shopping nature of the store.
Consumers Distributing undertook several initiatives to dispel this out-of-stock perception, including
Consumers Distributing was one of the first to implement real-time stock checking and prepayment for products available at other branches and the main warehouse. These initiatives, including the
High operating expenses, increasing competition, changing retailing trends (such as warehouse format stores), deflation in several product categories (jewellery and electronics), a deep lingering recession and the expansion of [[Walmart]] into Canada all contributed to the company's bankruptcy in 1996.
==Corporate offices==
▲==Competitors and similar retailers==
Consumers Distributing's final Canadian headquarters was located at 6303 Airport Road, in [[Mississauga]], [[Ontario]].
▲[[Hudson's Bay Company]], which operates Canadian [[department store]]s under [[Hudson's Bay (department store)|The Bay]] and formerly [[Zellers]] names, acquired the small [[Shop-Rite (Canada)|Shop-Rite]] catalogue chain in 1972 and quickly expanded it in an attempt to compete with Consumers Distributing. The chain never reached profitability, and ceased operations in 1982.<ref name="citizen"/>
▲American competition was mainly from the catalog showroom retail store chains [[Best Products]] (also known simply as Best) and [[Service Merchandise]]. Both Best Products and Service Merchandise ultimately declared bankruptcy and ceased operations.
==See also==
*
*
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Further reading==
*{{cite web|url=https://www.tvo.org/article/what-happened-to-consumers-distributing|title=What happened to Consumers Distributing?|last=Bradburn|first=Jamie|publisher=[[TVO]]|date=21 December 2023|access-date=23 December 2023}}
==External links==
{{Commonscatinline}}
[[Category:Catalog showrooms]]
[[Category:Companies based in
[[Category:Retail companies established in 1957]]
[[Category:Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada]]
[[Category:Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1996]]
[[Category:Defunct retail companies of Canada]]
[[Category:Defunct retail companies of
[[Category:Retail companies disestablished in 1996]]
[[Category:May Department Stores]]
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