Winners was founded in Toronto, Ontario in 1982 by David Margolis.[2][3] It was one of the first off-price department stores in Canada. In 1990, it merged with off-price department store owner TJX Companies.[2][3]
It offers brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, fine jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Products are at a 20-60% discount rate and the stores generally do not carry the same merchandise for an entire season.[4] The discounts are in large part to the company buying excess or end-of-season merchandise from other stores as well as its connections with TJ Maxx.[2] The firm does not sell online.[4]
Since late 2001, Winners stores have been paired with HomeSense, a home accessory retailer, modelled on TJX's American HomeGoods stores. Winners acquired the struggling "Labels" brand from Dylex in 2001. Labels had been meant to compete with Winners, but never succeeded; most of its stores have been turned into Homesense stores.
Les Ailes de la Mode opened a similar concept under the Labels banner after Winners did not renew its trademark on the name.
Controversy
In 2016, CBC Television's Marketplace investigated Winners' "compared at" pricing and found that retail price of the manufacture could be misleading and inaccurate. For example, one pair of pants was "on sale for $29.99, with a 'compare at' price of $80, or more than 60 per cent off. But next to the tag [was] another tag with the manufacturer's suggested retail price: $29.99, the same amount that Winners was charging."[5]
Winners responded by defending their "compared at" prices as accurate and fair, but acknowledged that "sometimes errors can occur" due to the volume of merchandise received by stores.[5] In a follow-up letter to Marketplace, Winners was able to verify every "compared at" price for 20 of the 21 items that Marketplace had investigated, by finding the items at the "compared at" prices at a comparable retailer. For the remaining item, Winners admitted that it was an error on their part and pledged to fix the mismatch.[6]
^ abcStrauss, Marina (June 5, 2002). "Winners ponders new chain". The Globe and Mail. Winners sells labels.. up to 60 per cent lower than usual by buying excess or end-of-season merchandise from other retailers and by other attractive deals worldwide through its link with TJX... Mr. Margolis started Winners in Toronto in 1982 and sold it eight years later to TJX, which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls among others.
^ abDesjardins, François (September 24, 2004). "Le Groupe Les Ailes mise sur le fondateur de Winners". Le Devoir (in French). M. Margolis, 56 ans, est né près de New York. Il a entamé sa carrière à Toronto en 1970 dans le créneau du rabais avant d'ouvrir, en 1982, un premier magasin Winners. Huit ans plus tard, la chaîne a été rachetée par la société-mère de la chaîne américaine T. J. Maxx.
