July 15, 2008
Vintage Toronto Ads: Live Together in Perfect Harmony
Imagine that you're an advertising representative assigned to handle a spot for Eaton's in a magazine distributed to audience members enjoying classical music at Roy Thomson Hall in 1982. The department store giant wants to spotlight their fine collection of pianos. As you struggle for ideas, you flip on the radio and hear Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder join forces to sing about the joys of piano duets and racial harmony.
A light bulb appears over your head.
Released as a single in March 1982, "Ebony and Ivory" spent seven weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Its reputation has taken a beating in recent years—a 2007 BBC 6 Music listener poll rewarded the song with the distinction of the worst duet of all time.
Other offerings on the sixth floor of the Toronto Eaton Centre store included the home entertainment department, a portrait studio, optical and hearing aids, lost and found service, and the Marine Room restaurant.
Source: Bravo, November-December 1982
| CORRECTION: JULY 16, 2008
This article mistakenly claimed that "retail sales on the [sixth] floor ceased soon after the chain was purchased by Sears Canada in 1999," which was not the case—the sixth floor remained open. An article in the Globe and Mail on November 25, 2000 noted that the store was six stories, which, combined with other sources, led the author to conclude that those six stories included the basement level. Torontoist apologizes for the error. |
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[ report this ]
Televisions were sold on the same floor.
Because of the alliance between Eaton and
Bassett, one poor sod in the TV department
was responsible for switching TV sets back
to CTV. That was the only channel allowed
to be displayed in the department unless
some customer changed the channel on a set.
At that time, CTV had a very serious colour
problem. Very intense reds, blues and greens.
There was almost a day-glo intensity to
the images most of the time.
[ report this ]
In 2002 I bought my TV on that floor, the store banner was still Eaton's though it was already operated by Sears Canada. The floor was still open until around 2004, I know because it had the cleanest washroom in the vicinity. Then around early 2005 it was closed.
[ report this ]
After a check of newspapers from the Eatons relaunch by Sears in 2000, the store reopened with six retail floors (One Below to Five), with the top two floors (Six and Annex 7) closed off.
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@ Jamie Bradburn
--------------
The store went even further. There were
three lower levels of shopping. The lowest
level was mainly housewares but I can't
remember what was on -2.
If you look in the elevators, you'll notice
the buttons are number -1, -2, -3.
All told, there were, at least for a time,
ten selling floors.
[ report this ]
I promise the sixth floor is where I bought my TV and constantly used the washroom. Really.
[ report this ]
Seven was closed, though. I remember that.
[ report this ]
Maria is correct. The revamped "eatons" experiment by Sears occupied 7 floors, from 1-below to 6. The sixth floor was furnishings -- it was a big deal because Sears had pulled out of storage some old English manor rooms that Lady Eaton had shipped over from England in the late 1920s for the (then) under construction Eaton's College Street store. It was also a big deal because Sears went to considerable expense to open up the escalator banks for floors 4 to 6.
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Just for more detail, check out "Some Historic Displays" in the Nov. 3, 2001 Toronto Star. The furnishings were definately on the 6th floor.
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You are all correct—our mistake, and sorry for the delay in fixing the mistake. I've removed that sentence and appended a correction above.