Eaton's Aubergine Commercial

Floria Sigismondi directs this beautiful retro style 4 minute long commercial for the re-launch of the Eaton's department store brand name in Canada. Sears bought Eaton's a year later.

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Entertainment

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• Naomi
• Emmerson
• Eaton's
• Commercial
• Aubergine
• Floria
• Sigismondi
• ad

[Bjoggie]

what the hell?

[littlepiaf]

What do you mean what the hell?

[paulmercy]

I just never understood why Eaton's folded: they offered wide selection, quality, a no-hassle return/exchange policy, and great customer service. I guess they were just too Canadian for Canadians to bother appreciating & supporting. Sad. It was another Canadian institution, Joni Mitchell, who said "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone".

Anyway, I recall this ad's splashy debut. It's a splendid production & still fun to watch.

[VintageCommercialFan]

Thanks for posting this - I have been missing Eaton's more and more these days. This was a great effort to relaunch a wonderful Canadian business; I am still saddend to think it didn't make it.

[LanceCampeau]

In 1983, I was 9 years old.... My family went on a trip to Toronto for the first time. We went to the Eaton Center...

The only thing I remember from the Eaton's store was a $53 price tag on a turquoise nylon bathing suit....

And people wonder WHY they went bankrupt? You gotta be kidding me....

[Tungzout]

@Tungzout

Sorry, I meant Downtown Toronto.

[Tungzout]

@luapenat

Sears was smart though. They gave up a whole floor of the downtown Eatons store,

Why didn't Eaton's think to do that when they first felt that things were getting troublesome financially?

[likethepear]

I miss the Christmas windows at Eaton's at the downtown Winnipeg store. It opened there in 1905 and I didn't start seeing those magical windows until 80 years later. So awesome!

[cherri1berry]

Eaton's was a Canadian Icon for hundreds of years. Sears got a hold of it and tried to reposition it as a luxury specialty department store so it would not directly compete with them, and there began the end of it all. A similar thing happened to Simpson's when The Bay bought it.

I was talking to my sister about how much Sears sucks and how I missed Eaton's. Thanks for posting my memories.

[bobfartsalot]

Eaton's failed because of grossly incompentent management

[Thisisadarkride]

@paulmercy it shut down because it stopped offering a wider range of more affordable clothing and appliances. It started offering too many high end products and began to stop its private brand label. That lead to loss of money and misdirection away from what it traditionally offered. In the end high prices turned it into a giant luxury store which just could not sell all its product

[Existantia]

I remember when this came out. Splendidly executed, however, the idea itself was hollow. No real concept to this whatsoever, I felt, but it looked super pretty.

Love the little scenes with all the women posing towards the end! And how there was a slightly modern twist in all of them.

[luapenat]

Sears Canada was responsible for the re-launch of Eaton's as "eatons". The Eaton family sold the brand to them. Sears Canada then spent $250 million to refurbish the 6 prime downtown locations across Canada. Four months after the launch CEO and visionary Paul Walters was dumped and Marc Cohen was brought in from the US to deconstruct eatons and convert the newly renovated locations to Sears stores. Now Sears Canada is gone . Sears has retained control of these prime locations.