he window displays were only the most visible and outward sign of Timothy Eaton's creative flair for retailing. Eaton and his successors virtually created modern retailing in Canada.

In 1869, Eaton founded what was destined to become the T. Eaton Co. Ltd., for decades the largest and most innovative retailing, manufacturing and mail order enterprise in Canada. During his career, Timothy Eaton literally transformed the way Canadians shopped. He introduced many of the shopping innovations we now take for granted, including the fixed price, guaranteed customer satisfaction, mail order catalogues and vigorous advertising. He also pioneered the use of window displays designed to lure passersby into the store. His son, Sir John Eaton, refined the use of the window displays at Eaton's and, by the time of his death in 1922, display windows had become an urban art form.

Through bulk purchasing and cash only policies, Eaton's managed to keep its prices low. Smaller competitors complained bitterly, but bargain-minded customers and government agencies ignored them.

As the years passed, Eaton's turned to manufacturing as well. It introduced its own “Eatonia” brand of products, everything from boots to suits. It even ran a farm to produce the milk, butter and cream sold in its groceterias and restaurants.

In 1884, Eaton's launched its famous mail order catalogue. The first issue was a thin little booklet handed out at the annual Toronto fair. By 1896, however, the catalogue had swelled into a 400-page tome that came out twice a year and offered every kind of consumer goods from stoves and wedding rings to underwear and home remedies such as Kickapoo Indian Oil. That catalogue helped make Eaton's a household name across Canada.

Timothy Eaton was a revolutionary employer. Though he fought the unions tooth and nail, he was a leader in labour reform with innovations that included a shortened work week, paid sick leave and desirable jobs for thousands of women.

He was also personally generous. One particularly hard winter, he wrote a cheque for $3,000 and told a manager to divide it among his employees and to alert him if more was needed.