The Brick Ltd. is a Canadian retailer of

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating ( tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks) ...

, mattresses, appliances and home

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

. The company was founded as The Brick Warehouse LP by brothers, John, Fred, and

Bill Comrie William H. Comrie (born June 29, 1950) is a Canadian businessman. He is the founder of The Brick, one of Canada's largest volume retailers of furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics. Early life Comrie was born on June 29, 1950, in ...

. The first warehouse opened on September 1, 1971 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

. Its first expansion was to

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significan ...

in the 1970s and later acquired a competitor in the city of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

. Over the past 51 years, The Brick has expanded across Canada and now operates 136 retail stores (including 20 franchise locations) in every province and territory except for

Nunavut Nunavut ( , ; iu, ᓄᓇᕗᑦ , ; ) is the largest and northernmost territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the '' Nunavut Act'' and the '' Nunavut Land Claims Agreement Act'' ...

, while

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

stores are branded simply as Brick. In addition, the Brick Group Income Fund operates distribution centres in Calgary, Edmonton,

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749 ...

Toronto 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 anch ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

and Dartmouth.

History

The company was founded as The Brick Warehouse LP by brothers, John, Fred, and

. The first warehouse opened on September 1, 1971 in

. Its first expansion was to

in the 1970s and later acquired a competitor in the city of

. In 1975 it acquired the Bad Boy Furniture chain of 40 stores 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 ...

area. Absorbed into The Brick, the rights to the Bad Boy Furniture name was lapsed and later revived by Lastman family in 1991. In March 2004, the company acquired

United Furniture Warehouse United Furniture Warehouse (UFW) was a Canadian retail furniture chain operating locations in Western Canada and Ontario. The company billed itself as "offering warehouse-style shopping at the lowest possible prices." The company was founded i ...

which had 81 locations throughout Canada at the time. In 2006, 24 stores were rebranded as "The Brick" in a strategic attempt to save on advertising costs and increase sales. On November 11, 2012, The Brick announced that competitor

Leon's Leon's Furniture Ltd. () (Meubles Léon Limité in Quebec) is a Canadian furniture retailer which first opened its store in 1909 in Welland, Ontario. The controlling interest in the company is owned by the Leon family, while some shares are tra ...

would acquire the company for $700 million subject to approval of shareholders. Following the acquisition, Leon's maintains the two separate chains. In November 2012, The Brick agreed to pay $2.1 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by consumer rights group

Option consommateurs Option consommateurs is a non-profit consumer organization dedicated to promoting and defending the interests of Canadian consumers. The organization was founded in 1983 and is based in Montréal. Its focus areas are energy, agri-food, financi ...

in 2009 over claims the retailer's advertising was misleading. In July 2017, The Brick re-branded all of its United Furniture Warehouse and The Brick Clearance Centres into a new branding called The Brick Outlet.

Other

In the 1980s, they were financial backers of the

Edmonton Brick Men The Edmonton Brick Men (also Edmonton Brickmen) were a Canadian soccer team in Edmonton, Alberta that competed in the Canadian Soccer League and the Western Soccer Alliance. During their time in the WSA and the CSL, the team played at both John D ...

soccer team, which was owned by

Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...

owner Peter Pocklington, with the team being named after the company and the team's logo using the same font for the word ''Brick'' as the furniture retailer.

References

External links

*
United Furniture Warehouse
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brick Companies formerly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Companies based in Edmonton Retail companies established in 1971 Furniture retailers of Canada Canadian brands