The Brick

For other uses, see Brick (disambiguation).
This article is about a retailer. For the bar and restaurant, see Northern Exposure.
The Brick Ltd.
Subsidiary
Industry Retail
Founded 1971
Founder Bill Comrie[1]
Headquarters Edmonton, Alberta
Number of locations
 235[2]
Key people
 Dave Freeman (President)
Products Furniture
Revenue Decrease $1.3 billion (2012)[3]
Decrease $33.9 million (2012)[3]
Total assets Decrease $728 million (2012)[3]
Total equity Increase $117 million (2012)[3]
Parent Leon's (2012–present)
Website www.thebrick.com

The Brick Ltd. is one of Canada's largest volume retailers 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.

Over the past 35 years, The Brick has expanded across Canada and now operates 135 retail stores (including 20 franchise locations) in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. (Quebec stores are branded simply as Brick.) In addition, the Brick Group Income Fund operates distribution centres in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal.

In March 2004, the company acquired United Furniture Warehouse which had 81 locations throughout Canada at the time.[4] In 2006, 24 stores were rebranded as "The Brick" in a strategic attempt to save on advertising costs and increase sales.[5]

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 plans to maintain the two separate chains.[6]

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.[7]

References

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