The Brick

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, Alberta. Its first expansion was to Fort McMurray, Alberta in the 1970s and later acquired a competitor in the city of Calgary.

For other uses, see Brick (disambiguation).
This article is about a retailer. For the bar and restaurant, see Northern Exposure.
The Brick Ltd.
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryRetail
Founded1971
FounderBill Comrie[1]
HeadquartersEdmonton, Alberta, Canada
Number of locations
235[2]
Key people
Dave Freeman (President)
ProductsFurniture
RevenueDecrease $1.3 billion (2012)[3]
Decrease $33.9 million (2012)[3]
Total assetsDecrease $728 million (2012)[3]
Total equityIncrease $117 million (2012)[3]
ParentLeon's (2012–present)
Websitethebrick.com

Over the past 51 years, The Brick has expanded across Canada and now operates 136 retail stores (including 20 franchise locations) in every province and territory except for Nunavut, while Quebec stores are branded simply as Brick. In addition, the Brick Group Income Fund operates distribution centres in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Dartmouth.[4]

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 Edmonton, Alberta. Its first expansion was to Fort McMurray, Alberta in the 1970s and later acquired a competitor in the city of Calgary. In 1975 it acquired the Bad Boy Furniture chain of 40 stores in Toronto, Ontario area.[5] 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.[6] In 2006, 24 stores were rebranded as "The Brick" in a strategic attempt to save on advertising costs and increase sales.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9]

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 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.[10]

References
  1. About The Brick
  2. "Brick Warehouse LP, The Company Information". Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  3. "Consolidated Financial Statements of The Brick Ltd" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  4. "We're in your neighbourhood". The Brick. Retrieved 2022-01-26.
  5. "Emery Village Voice".
  6. "The Brick plans $400M IPO as income trust". Ottawa Business Journal. 2009-05-31.
  7. "Brick to rebrand Sleep Better chain". National Post. 2006-01-17.
  8. "Leon's to buy The Brick in $700M deal". Edmonton Journal. November 12, 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2012.
  9. Huffington Post Canada. The Brick False Advertising Lawsuit End With $2 Million Settlement Retrieved 27 Nov 2012
  10. "Edmonton Brickmen (1987-90)". CSL Memories.
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