For the Ogilvy's department store in Montreal

Downtown Montreal

Downtown Montreal is the central business district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is nearly enitirely located at the southern most slope of Mount Royal and is approximately bounded by Sherbrooke Street to the north, Papineau Avenue to the east, Guy Street or until Shaughnessy Village to the west,...

, Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, see Ogilvy (department store).

Charles Ogilvy Limited, or "Ogilvy's", was a department store in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, founded in 1887. For much of the 20th century, Ogilvy's was one of Ottawa's higher-end department stores.

Charles Ogilvy (1861-1947) was born in Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 and emigrated to Canada with his family in 1863. His father, James Ogilvy, established a stationery store in Ottawa, and Charles followed in the retail business by opening his own dry goods shop at 92 Rideau Street

Rideau Street

Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...

 in 1887. The business prospered and moved to new premises at 126 Rideau Street in 1907. The new store was designed by Ottawa architect W.E. Noffke, and the building was expanded in 1917, 1931 and 1934 (top 2 floors built in 1931 and 1934 were designed by architect A.J. Hazelgrove). Ogilvy's was a thriving retail enterprise, famous for its "tartan boxes". The success of Ottawa's local department stores, such as Ogilvy's, Freimans

Freimans

A.J. Freiman Limited, or Freimans, was a landmark department store on Rideau Street in Ottawa, Canada, founded in 1918 by Archibald J. Freiman.Archibald Jacob Freiman was born in Lithuania in 1880, and emigrated to Hamilton, Ontario...

, Murphy-Gamble

Murphy-Gamble

Murphy-Gamble Limited was a long-time department store in the City of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.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"...

 and Caplan's

Caplan's

Caplan's was a department store in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.Caplan's began as a small dry goods shop in 1897, and operated over time at various locations throughout Ottawa. In 1916, the store moved to Rideau Street, where it grew into a department store and went on to become a retail landmark in...

 discouraged the expansion of national chains (including Eaton's

Eaton's

The T. Eaton Co. Limited was once Canada's largest department store retailer. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an Irish immigrant. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying offices across the globe, and a catalogue...

, Simpson's

Simpson's

The Robert Simpson Company, or Simpsons , was a Canadian department store chain, founded by Robert Simpson. The chain was eventually bought by the Hudson's Bay Company.- History :...

, Simpsons-Sears

Sears Canada

Sears Canada Inc. is a retailer, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, that operates in all provinces and territories across Canada with a network of 196 corporate stores, 195 dealer stores, 38 home improvement showrooms, 108 Sears Travel offices and a nationwide home maintenance, repair, and...

 and The Bay

The Bay

The Bay is a chain of 91 department stores that operate across parts of Canada. It is the main brand of Hudson's Bay Company , North America's oldest company. It has its headquarters in the Simpson Tower in Toronto. In French, the chain is known as la Baie, short for "Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson"...

) into the National Capital Region

National Capital Region (Canada)

The National Capital Region, also referred to as Canada's Capital Region, is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario, the neighbouring city of Gatineau, Quebec, and surrounding urban and rural communities....

 until the 1950s (Simpsons-Sears opened its Carlingwood outlet in 1955).

Over time, Ogilvy's opened a woodworking shop in Westboro

Westboro

Westboro is a neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada, often referred to as Westboro Village. Located along the Ottawa River, the neighbourhood is bordered on the east by Island Park Drive, and on the west by Woodroffe Avenue. The Southern border can be stretched up to Carling Avenue...

 and a number of small satellite stores in proximity to its Rideau Street store. In the 1960s, Ogilvy's opened a second location at the suburban Billings Bridge Plaza

Billings Bridge Plaza

The Billings Bridge Plaza is a shopping centre located in Ottawa, Canada. Originally built in 1954, it was the first shopping centre built in the city. It did not become enclosed until 1972. It is located immediately south of the Rideau River on the corner of Bank Street and Riverside Drive,...

 in south Ottawa. In later years, new suburban outlets at Lincoln Fields (in the west end) and Place d'Orléans (in the east end) were opened.

A major fire in the 1970s, followed by the expansion of national department store chains into Ottawa and the harsh economic climate of the 1980s, proved disastrous for Ogilvy's. The chain merged with the southern-Ontario Robinson's chain, and operated under the Robinson-Ogilvy banner for a number of years in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Eventually, the "Ogilvy" was dropped from the store name, and the small chain became known as "Robinson's". An era in Ottawa retailing was over.

The Place d'Orléans Robinson's store was the first to close in 1992, and the closure of the remaining Ottawa locations followed soon thereafter. In 1996, the Hudson's Bay Company

Hudson's Bay Company

The Hudson's Bay Company , abbreviated HBC, or "The Bay" is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and one of the oldest in the world. A fur trading business for much of its existence, today Hudson's Bay Company owns and operates retail stores throughout Canada...

 acquired the remaining assets of Robinson-Ogilvy Ltd, although by that time the firm had been absent from Ottawa for four years.

Ogilvy's former Rideau Street store remains, although it has been vacant for a number of years. Designated under the Ontario Heritage Act

Ontario Heritage Act

The Ontario Heritage Act, first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Province of Ontario, Canada, as being of cultural heritage value or interest....

 in 2000, most of the building's Rideau and Nicholas Street façades will be preserved when the building is incorporated into a planned expansion of the downtown Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre

Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....

shopping mall.