The Brick Ltd. is a Canadian retailer of furniture, mattresses, appliances and home electronics. The company was founded as The Brick Warehouse LP by brothers, John, Fred, and Bill Comrie. The first warehouse opened on September 1, 1971 in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. Its first expansion was to Fort McMurray,

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

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

. The Brick has expanded across Canada and operates 136 retail stores (including 20 franchise locations) in every province and territory except for

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, while

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

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 List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and Dartmouth.

History

The company was founded as The Brick Warehouse LP by brothers, John, Fred, and Bill Comrie. The first warehouse opened on September 1, 1971 in

. Its first expansion was to Fort McMurray,

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 ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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 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 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 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 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 (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. Th ...

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

* {{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