Eaton’s department store examined at next meeting of Burlington Historical Society

If you are of a certain age you probably shopped at their store or at least ordered from the catalogue.

But what do you really know about Eaton’s department store?

Many of those questions will be answered at the next meeting of the Burlington Historical Society.

Dave Bartlett, an avid collector and historian of the Eaton family company’s growth will be the guest speaker at the meeting which takes place on Monday, April 8 at 7 p.m. in the Centennial Hall of the Burlington Central Library.

It was in 1869 that Timothy Eaton purchased an existing business on Yonge Street in Toronto and introduced the unheard-of practices of selling all goods for the same price — long before the days of Dollarama — as well as offering money-back guarantees. Do you remember their long-standing slogan, “Goods satisfactory or your money refunded.”

By 1884 Eaton introduced his mail-order catalogue which allowed consumers across Canada to buy goods that had previously been available only in stores.

The rest, as they say, is history and on Monday night Mr. Bartlett will be the one doing the explaining.

Bartlett will bring along items from his collection and attendees are encouraged to bring their own Eaton’s memorabilia.

Everyone is invited to attend.