Shopsy's
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Shopsy's is the name of a delicatessen restaurant in the Greater Toronto Area and a brand name owned by Maple Leaf Foods for a line of meat products.
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[edit] History
In 1921, the husband-and-wife team of Harry Shopsowitz and Jenny Shopsowitz opened an 18-seat ice cream parlour at 295 Spadina Avenue at Dundas Street West in Toronto. It became Shopsowitz Delicatessen and by the mid-1940s was selling products under the Shopsy's brand name.
Harry died in October 1945 and the business was passed along to his sons, Sam Shopsowitz and Izzy Shopsowitz. They led its growth into a Toronto institution, renaming the business Shopsy's. Future Toronto Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard is said to have been the person who encouraged Sam to open a meat-processing plant. By 1947, Sam was being billed as "the corned beef king" in advertisements.
Izzy sold his share of the business to Sam in 1969 and Lever Brothers (part of Unilever) bought the company in December 1971. Sam suffered a stroke in 1982 and died in September 1984 at age 63. After 62 years on Spadina, the restaurant moved to Yonge Street at Front Street in March 1983. Izzy died in April 1994 at age 71 after having a heart attack while in the Shopsy's restaurant. He had rejoined the business after the sale to Unilever.
In 1992, Unilever sold the manufacturing division to Maple Leaf Foods. The restaurant business—Shopsy's Hospitality Inc.—was managed by A&W for a period in the 1990s, and then bought in 1996 by a group headed by Lewis Allen. He was CEO until leaving in 2003. As of 2005, Shopsy's Hospitality was owned by Dynamic Funds.
[edit] Meat products
- Hot dogs
- Bacon
- Corned beef
- Salami
- Pastrami
- Smoked meat
[edit] Delicatessen
Current locations:
- Yonge Street at Front Street, Toronto (opened March 1983)
- Mississauga Road and Derry Road, Mississauga, Ontario (opened August 2004)
- Woodbine Avenue and Steelcase Road, Markham, Ontario (opened January 2005)
Previous locations:
- Spadina Avenue at Dundas Street West (1921-1983) - burned down in fire
- Yonge Street north of St. Clair Avenue (1998-2005) - now a pub
- King Street West at John Street (sold to Dunn's Famous)
