Winners Merchants International L.P. is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX. Its market niche is similar to the American chain TJ Maxx, and it is a partnered retailer to department stores HomeSense and Marshalls.
History and format
thumb|Winners logo from 1982 to 2005
thumb|Winners at [[Southcentre Mall in Calgary, Alberta]]
thumb|right|Winners store in [[Bayers Lake Business Park with 1980s logo]]
Winners was founded in 1982 by David Margolis in Toronto, Ontario. It was one of the first off-price department stores in Canada. In 1990, it merged with off-price department store owner TJX. Except for the store on Spadina Avenue that closed in 2018, all of these Winners are still in operation (either in their original or relocated spaces).
Winners offers brand-name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, fine jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Products are at a 20-60% discount rate, and the stores generally do not carry the same merchandise for an entire season. The discounts are in large part due to the company buying excess or end-of-season merchandise from other stores, as well as its connections with TJ Maxx.
Winners responded by defending their "compared at" prices as accurate and fair, but acknowledged that "sometimes errors can occur" due to the volume of merchandise received by stores.
See also
- List of Canadian department stores