United Cigar Stores Limited was a Canadian chain of

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

stores based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

which at one point had operations across the country. It once included United Cigar Store Agencies, which operated as franchisers of the brand. The red fronted buildings once spotted the Toronto landscape, but had largely disappeared by the late 1990s, shortly after the company had been acquired from

Imasco Imasco Limited was a Canadian corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was founded in 1970 as Imperial and Associates, Co. History Imasco was the former owner of Imperial Tobacco Canada, Canada Trust, Shoppers Drug Mart , Gens ...

Hachette Distribution Services Hachette Distribution Services is the distribution arm of French media group Hachette. In Canada and the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a count ...

, when the vast majority of locations were renamed Great Canadian News Co. However, at least one location, in the basement of the

Toronto Coach Terminal The Toronto Coach Terminal is a decommissioned bus station for intercity bus services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was the central intercity bus station in Toronto until mid-2021, when it was replaced by the Union Station Bus Termin ...

, had remained under the United Cigar Stores name. In 2014, LS Travel Retail (the former HDS, which had been acquired by

Lagardère Group Lagardère S.A. () is an international group with operations in over 40 countries. It is headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The group was created in 1992 as Matra, Hachette & Lagardère. Headed by Arnaud Lagardère, it is focuse ...

) sold the chains to

Gateway Newstands Gateway Newstands is a chain of convenience stores and kiosks in large office buildings, shopping centres, public places, and transit stations in the United States and Canada. Established in 1983, Vaughan, Ontario-based Tobmar Investments Interna ...

, which promptly rebranded all locations (including the Toronto Coach Terminal store) under its own banner.

Advertising

The following is the primary body copy of an advertisement which ran in " Toronto's 100 Years". : Few institutions have become more inseparably a part of Toronto than have the familiar red fronts of the United Cigar Stores and Agencies. : You see them everywhere. As Toronto's homes spread out over wider and wider areas this great chain of stores brought its services to each new neighborhood. : For years Toronto has depended to a remarkable degree on United Cigar Stores and Agencies to fill its varied smoking needs. United responds to that trust with a service that brings fresh new stocks of smoking materials and sundries almost to everyone's door.

References

Jesse Edgar Middleton Jesse Edgar Middleton (November 3, 1872 – May 27, 1960) was a Canadian journalist, historian and songwriter. Biography Middleton was born in Pilkington, Ontario, the son of Margaret Agar and Rev. Eli Middleton, a Methodist minister. He attend ...

, ''Toronto's 100 Years''. Toronto, ON: The Corporation of the City of Toronto, 1934. Retail companies of Canada Cigar retailers Companies based in Toronto {{Toronto-stub