The Carling Building, Sparks Street, Ottawa

Murphy-Gamble Limited was a long-time

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...

in the City of

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The store was located at 118 Sparks Street in a 1909 building designed by C.P. Meredith, and for years used the slogan "Ottawa's Smart Store". Murphy-Gamble's fifth floor restaurant was known as the Rideau Room. Sparks Street was home to many of Ottawa's department stores during the first half of the 20th century, including Murphy-Gamble, C. Ross and Bryson-Graham.

Ogilvy's Charles Ogilvy Limited, or Ogilvy's, was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, founded in 1887. For much of the 20th century, Ogilvy's was one of Ottawa's higher-end department stores. Charles Ogilvy (1861-1950) was born in Edinb ...

, Freimans and Caplan's were located further east, on Rideau Street. The success of local department stores in Ottawa discouraged the entry of most national chains into the

National Capital Region A capital region, also called a capital district or capital territory, is a region or district surrounding a capital city. It is not always the official term for the region, but may sometimes be used as an informal synonym. Capital regions can exis ...

until the 1950s. Murphy-Gamble was purchased by

Simpson's The Robert Simpson Company Limited, commonly known as Simpson's until 1972, then as Simpsons, and in Quebec sometimes as Simpson, was a Canadian department store chain that had its earliest roots in a store opened in 1858 by Robert Simpson. ...

in 1971, and the store continued to operate under the Simpson's banner until 1983. The building is now occupied by a branch of

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

. With the closing of the

Zellers Zellers was a Canadian discount department retail chain and is currently a brand name owned by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC). Founded in 1931 in London, Ontario, in later decades it was based in Brampton, Ontario. Zellers was acquired by HBC ...

store in 2013, and the closure of

Holt Renfrew Holt, Renfrew & Co., Limited (doing business as Holt Renfrew and known colloquially as Holt's) is a Canadian luxury department store chain founded in 1837 by William S. Henderson. It has been owned by the Weston family since 1986, and was previo ...

at 240 Sparks Street in 2014, there were no department stores left in operation on Sparks Street until

Winners Winners Merchants International L.P is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. It offers brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, fine jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Products are at a 20-60 ...

moved into the previous Zellers location in 2015. Murphy Gamble store on Sparks Street Ottawa.jpg, Inside of store Murphy Gamble.JPG, Today

References

Heritage Ottawa newsletter, February 1983, page 3
Defunct retail companies of Canada Department stores of Canada History of Ottawa Department store buildings in Canada Shops in Ottawa {{coord, 45.42237, N, 75.6982, W, display=title

See also

References