Grafton-Fraser

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Grafton-Fraser is a leading Canadian seller of men’s apparel. Grafton-Fraser Inc. operates through its retail chains, George Richards Big and Tall, Britches, Grafton & Co., Mr. Big and Tall, The Suit Exchange and Tip Top Tailors which are located coast to coast in Canada.

[edit] History

In 1853, James Beatty Grafton, son of Irish immigrants, left school at the age of 16 to become an apprentice in the dry goods industry. Moving later that year to Dundas, Ontario, he went into business with Anthony Gregson and opened a dry goods, millinery and clothing shop known as Gregson & Grafton. The company was established later that year, fourteen years before Canadian Confederation. In 1858 Anthony Gregson retired and James Grafton was joined in business by his brother John to form the J.B. & J.S. Grafton Co. In 1884, James John Grafton, the son of James Beatty Grafton joined the company as a full partner and the company was once again renamed to Grafton & Co. In 1889 the store was ready to expand and opened its second branch in Owen Sound, Ontario. Within the next 16 years five more branches opened in southern Ontario in Peterborough, Hamilton, London, Brantford and Woodstock. In 1900 Grafton & Co. opened a factory across the street from its original store in Dundas to ensure that all the products they offered were manufactured with their trademark “High Grade”. By the 1960’s Grafton & Co. was a well known name in Ontario with eight stores around the province. On July 19, 1967 Grafton & Co. purchased Jack Fraser Stores Limited and became Grafton-Fraser Limited. The middle of the line pricing and well established quality of the clothing offered at both of these stores made for the perfect partnership between the companies.

Jack Fraser had been founded in 1926 by Jack Fraser in Toronto’s east-end. The store was quickly established for its superior value to the customer. By the 1950’s the chain had 17 stores across south-central Ontario. Jack Fraser offered its selection in the Boy’s and Menswear departments at Woolco stores, giving it coast to coast exposure, in addition to its own 23 Jack Fraser stores, located principally in shopping centers.

In the late 1960’s, after the merger, the decision was made to expand Jack Fraser from Ontario to across Canada, while continuing to expand with Woolco in their Menswear department. The expansion started in 1969 was completed by 1976 with the establishment of their 80th store. At this time Jack Fraser stores were found in every province.

1977 saw the next merger for Grafton-Fraser when they purchased George Richards Kingsize Clothes Limited, Canada’s largest chain of specialty appearal for big and tall men.

In 1984, Grafton-Fraser launched its Grafton & Co. Store which was an upscale menswear specialty retailer featuring high fashion sportswear and casual clothing.

Faced with the recession of the early 1990’s, Grafton-Fraser was forced to reevaluate its operational strategy, reinforcing itself on its key strength in men’s apparel market. The company divested itself of all footwear operations as well as home furnishings, business, women’s departments, children department’s and leased department activities (such as Woolco) as well as all non-Canadian enterprises launched during the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

Emerging from reorganization as a leaner but stronger company, Grafton-Fraser was comprised of complimentary chains of retail stores. The company underwent major changes with the majority of shares being sold to the Cadillac Fairview Corporation and the addition of new president and CEO, Glenn Stonehouse. Glenn Stonehouse was able to buy back a majority of shares from the Cadillac Fairview Corporation.

[edit] Recent History

In 1999 the company continued to expand and bought Repp Ltd. Big and Tall stores from Edison Brothers Stores of St. Louis, Missouri. The purchase marked the repatriation of a chain which was started by Canadians. The chain was repositioned slightly to compliment the merchandise mix of George Richards. It was re-branded Mr. Big and Tall in a large media campaign in the fall of 1999, returning to its original name.

Later that same year Grafton-Fraser struck a partnership with Timberland retail stores. This partnership led to Grafton-Fraser being the franchise operator of Timberland retail stores. The company was quick to open two new flagship Timberland stores which are recognized for both their footwear and clothing selection.

The year 2000 saw the largest acquision of all. Grafton-Fraser bought the Tip Top Tailors chain from Dylex Ltd. in June of that year. Overnight, the size of the Company doubled to over 200 stores and approximately $200 million in revenue.

In 2005, President & CEO Glenn Stonehouse made the decision to retire the Jack Fraser name and rename all Jack Fraser stores Tip Top Tailors, finding that the name was more recognizable. In cities where both a Jack Fraser and a Tip Top Tailors were present, the more profitable of the two stayed open and changed its name to Tip Top Tailors if necessary. Today there are 109 Tip Top Tailors across Canada in all provinces except Quebec. The Grafton & Co., Timberland, Mr. Big and Tall and George Richards chains also still exist in all the provinces across Canada and make up well over 200 stores for the Grafton-Fraser company.

In July 2006, the Canadian Competition Bureau announced that it had reached a settlement with Grafton-Fraser resolving the Bureau's concerns over the company's pricing practices.

In addition to the company, Mr. Glenn Stonehouse, President, Chief Executive Officer and majority shareholder, is a party to the Agreement and subject to its terms and conditions. Among other things, the Agreement called for the payment of an administrative monetary penalty and costs totalling $1.2 million.

The registration of the Agreement concluded the Bureau's investigation into allegations that Grafton-Fraser had significantly inflated the regular price of certain garments sold in its stores resulting in an overstatement of the savings to consumers when these garments were on sale. The Bureau found that Grafton-Fraser tagged these garments with both a regular and a sale price when, in fact, the garments were not sold in any significant quantity or for any reasonable period of time at the regular price.