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Robert Simpson, merchant, founder of the Robert Simpson Company Limited (born 16 September 1834 in Morayshire, Scotland; died 14 December 1897 in Toronto, ON).
Business Career
After his apprenticeship in Scotland, Robert Simpson arrived in Canada in 1854 and found employment as a clerk in a store in Newmarket, Ontario. The following year he opened his own dry-goods store there.
In 1872, seeking greater opportunities, Robert Simpson opened a small store in Toronto and by 1894 had erected a new 6-storey building which became a longtime competitor of T. Eaton Company Ltd. across Queen St. Though a fire completely destroyed the new building in March 1895, Simpson set up in temporary quarters and in early 1896 opened another building utilizing every new fire-prevention measure. It had nearly 500 employees and 35 departments.
Robert Simpson's sudden death in 1898 resulted in the sale of the store for $135 000 to a syndicate of three Toronto businessmen, Alfred Ernest Ames, J.W. Flavelle and Harris Henry Fudger. Simpson's stores, which had merged with Sears to become Simpsons-Sears as of 1952, were purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in 1978 and eventually integrated into the chain.
