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 traded publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company has stores in all

provinces of Canada A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

. Leon’s buys The Brick in $700-million deal
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History

Leon's originated in the city of Welland, Ontario near the US border in the

Niagara Region The Regional Municipality of Niagara, also colloquially known as the Niagara Region or Region of Niagara, is a regional municipality comprising twelve municipalities of Southern Ontario, Canada. The regional seat is in Thorold. It is the southern ...

. It was founded by Ablan Leon, a Lebanese immigrant, who started out as factory worker and then a door-to-door salesman. He was able to open a store with his profits in 1909. The original store (A. Leon Company at 244 King Street) was a dry goods outlet, which subsequently converted to furniture sales. Leon's original store was staffed primarily by his family. When he died in 1942, he left the company to his children. After expanding the original location, they built new stores in

Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...

. The company moved into the Toronto area in the subsequent decades, purchasing several established outlets in the city and converting them to Leon's name. The company went public in 1969 and opened its first warehouse showroom in 1973, touting it as the only one in Canada. Today, roughly half of the store's more than 50 outlets are owned corporately, while the remainder, mainly in rural areas or in cities with lower populations, are owned by franchisees. There were briefly two stores in Arizona in the mid 1990s. On November 11, 2012, Leon's announced plans to acquire competing furniture chain The Brick for $700 million. Leon's took over eight Sears Home locations in 2016, a move that allowed Leon's to open its first store in the province of BC.

Products

Leon's Furniture markets mid-range furniture, appliances and electronics; some items are discount, and some stores contain high-end showrooms with higher-priced items available. A major part of Leon's marketing strategy is its financing plans, which allow customers to defer payments for various lengths of time (the most common of which are 6 and 18-month terms). This financing is offered through Flexiti Financial. In an effort to attract customers living in condos or smaller dwellings, Leon's launched their Urban Living Collection in June 2007, comprising smaller sized sofas, bedrooms and dining sets.

Personnel

The staff of Leon's Furniture is separated into numerous departments in many of its corporate locations (franchise operating procedures tend to vary). Employees receive a number of benefits, including

profit sharing Profit sharing is various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses. In publicly traded companies thes ...

and other benefits packages for full-time staff.

Slogans

* "All the savings you can carry" — mid-late 1970s * "It's a better way to buy furniture" — 1992 * "Canada's Only Furniture Superstore" — 2000 * "Leon's — Where Big Is Beautiful — In So Many Ways" — 2000–2004 * "Leon's — It's All About Trust" — 2004–2016 * "Leon's — Part of the Family" — 2016–Present

Charities

Leon's celebrated its 100th anniversary with a donation to

Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada BGC Canada (Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada) is a national, nonprofit organization that supports local Boys and Girls Clubs with programs for physical activity, healthy living, learning, job training, leadership, and creative expression. With location ...

. Leon's has also supported organizations such as Canadian Cancer Society,

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

, Cerebral Palsy Association and YWCA, among others.

Competition

Competitors of Leon's include: * Mattress Mattress Inc * Jeff Ware Arrow Furniture * Sleep Country * The Brick, competing furniture store that was acquired by Leon's Furniture Limited in 2012 * Lastman's Bad Boy Furniture *

Wholesale Furniture Brokers WFB Wholesale Furniture Brokers Group Inc. is a privately held Canadian Corporation which is predominantly an online retailer headquartered in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. Wholesale Furniture Brokers is ranked within the top 500 of Canad ...

* Teppermans *

Wayfair Wayfair Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in Boston, Massachusetts that sells furniture and home goods online. Formerly known as CSN Stores, it was founded in 2002, and currently offers 14 million items from more than 11,000 global su ...

Ashley HomeStore Ashley (formerly known as Ashley HomeStore and still known as Ashley Furniture HomeStore in some countries) is an American furniture store chain that sells Ashley Furniture products. Opened in 1997, the chain comprises over 2000 locations worldwi ...

References

Leon's Customer service

External links

*{{Official website, https://www.leons.ca/ Companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Furniture retailers of Canada Companies based in Toronto Canadian brands Retail companies established in 1909 1909 establishments in Ontario