Grand & Toy
Grand & Toy is a Canadian office supplies chain, founded in 1882 by James Grand as a home-based stationery printing business. A year later, Grand partnered with his brother-in-law, Samuel Toy, to open their first retail store in Toronto.[2]
In 1996 Grand & Toy was purchased by Boise Office Solutions, since renamed OfficeMax Inc., a US-based international office supplies distributor, for $104 million USD.[3]
One major competitor of Grand & Toy is Staples Business Depot.
Grand & Toy is commonly misconceived by the public as being a retail school supply store. In recent years, the company has distanced itself from selling school supplies, to focus on selling products such as office supplies, office furniture, meeting supplies, computer supplies and professional services, such as web design, shipping, and human resources.
Products & Services
- Office Supplies
- Interiors
- Technology
- Professional Services
- Paper
- Print & Copy Centres
- Promotional Solutions
- Facility Supplies
Brief history
- 1882 - Company founded in Toronto
- 1895 - Toronto head office established on Wellington Street
- 1926 - First retail store opened at 332 Bay Street, Toronto (closed 1981)
- 1955 - Head office moved to Don Mills
- 1962 - First computer installed
- December 1964 - First million dollar month
- November 1987 - First 20 million dollar month
- June 1990 - Cara Operations Limited acquires G & T
- February 1996 - Boise Cascade Office Products acquires G & T
- May 1998 - Vaughan, Ontario distribution centre & Toronto branch opened
- 2003 - Boise purchases OfficeMax
- 2004 - Boise divests paper and wood products manufacturing and building materials distribution businesses, and renames itself OfficeMax
- 2007 - Grand & Toy celebrates 125 years in business
- 2008 - Grand & Toy launches DHL shipping centers at all of their retail locations across Canada.[4]
- 2009 - Grand & Toy opens new concept stores located in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- 2010 - Grand & Toy continues the roll out of new concept Business Centre stores in Toronto, Ontario
External links
References
- ^ "Industry Canada: Grand & Toy Ltd. - Complete Profile". http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/search/navigate.do?language=eng&portal=1&subPortal=&estblmntNo=123456000332&profile=completeProfile. Retrieved 2006-07-05.
- ^ "Grand & Toy: Corporate History". http://www.grandtoy.com/?pg=corporate_company_history. Retrieved 2006-07-05.
- ^ "Boise Cascade Corp: 10K Annual Report". http://investor.officemax.com/EdgarDetail.cfm?CompanyID=OMX&CIK=12978&FID=12978-96-7&SID=96-00. Retrieved 2006-07-05.
- ^ "Boise Cascade Home Page". http://www.bc.com/index.jsp. Retrieved 2006-07-05.