Caplan's (C. Caplan Limited) was a department store in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Caplan's began as a small dry goods shop in 1897, and operated over time at various locations throughout Ottawa. In 1916, the store moved to

Rideau Street Rideau Street (french: Rue Rideau) is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier ...

, where it grew into a department store and went on to become a retail landmark in the city. Sam Caplan, born in 1898, ran the store for many years, and became a noted figure in Ottawa's business and

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish communities. Along with

Ogilvy's Charles Ogilvy Limited, or Ogilvy's, was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1887. For much of the 20th century, Ogilvy's was one of Ottawa's higher-end department stores. Charles Ogilvy (1861-1950) was born in Edinburgh ...

Freimans A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans ( ), was a landmark department store at 73 Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman. Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, On ...

and

Murphy-Gamble Murphy-Gamble Limited was a long-time department store in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The store was located at 118 Sparks Street in a 1909 building designed by C.P. Meredith, and for years used the slogan "Ottawa's Smart Store". Murph ...

, Caplan's was one of the local department stores that dominated Ottawa retailing for much of the twentieth century. In fact, Ottawa was unique among larger Canadian cities, as its local department stores were sufficiently successful to discourage the expansion of most national chains (including

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew ...

, the Bay, and

Simpson's The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpson's until 1972, then as Simpsons, and in Quebec sometimes as Simpson, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson. ...

) into the city until the 1950s. In 1967, Caplan's acquired Shaffer's Limited, a neighbouring clothing store on Rideau Street, and another longtime Ottawa retailer. The acquisition allowed for the further expansion of Caplan's premises and its customer base. However, retailing trends over the subsequent decade and a half did not favour independent department stores such as Caplan's. The construction of the

Rideau Centre The Rideau Centre (french: Centre Rideau) (corporately styled as CF Rideau Centre) is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street, the ByWard Market, the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie Ki ...

across the street from the Caplan's store further reduced sales, and Caplan's closed on July 28, 1984 after more than 80 years in business. Sam Caplan had died one year earlier, and did not witness the closing of his eponymous store. After the closure of the store, 1960s-era building extensions and design features were removed to reveal turn-of-the-century commercial façades that had been largely preserved. Shopping centre and office uses were proposed for the Caplan's site, but never reached the construction stage. In 2000, Ottawa City Council approved the construction of a cinema on the site, but that project also did not proceed. The city resisted subsequent efforts by the landowner to demolish the old Caplan's store façade, although neglect eventually lead to the fire marshall ordering its demolition in November 2003. As the site was located in a heritage conservation district protected under the ''

Ontario Heritage Act The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage ...

'', the city was able to secure the condition that a replica of the Rideau Street elevation be reconstructed as part of any future redevelopment on the site. The former Caplan's warehouse, built in 1920 on

King Edward Street King Edward Street is a street running between the High Street to the north and Oriel Square to the south in central Oxford, England. To the east is the "Island" site of Oriel College, one of the colleges of Oxford University. To the west ...

, was transformed in 1969 into an off-site theatre studio of the

National Arts Centre The National Arts Centre (NAC) (french: Centre national des Arts) is a Arts centre, performing arts organisation in Ottawa, Ontario, along the Rideau Canal. It is based in the eponymous National Arts Centre (building), National Arts Centre build ...

. Today, it serves as "La Nouvelle Scène", a

francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

theatre venue.

References

Samuel Caplan fonds (1900-1975), Ottawa Jewish Archives
* ttp://ottawa.ca/city_services/culture/doorsopen/buildings/central_nouvelle_scene_en.html La Nouvelle Scène{{Ottawa Defunct retail companies of Canada Department stores of Canada History of Ottawa Buildings and structures in Ottawa Economy of Ottawa Demolished buildings and structures in Ontario Buildings and structures demolished in 2003