Retail Pencils

The retail landscape is ever evolving. Once mighty chains are now like the "ghosts of Christmas past." There is a long list of once familiar department stores that are now gone (or nearly so). Retailers like Woolco (bought by Walmart and dissolved in Canada in 1994),  Zellers (closed in 2013), Kmart, Simpson's, Sears and Stedmans were all once popular and now all but gone. Many of these stores sold their own branded pencils as well as other stationary supplies. Shown below are a few of these.  

Stedmans

"The first store, in Brantford Ontario, started as a stationery store in 1907. During the 1950s and 1960s, there were over 1000 Stedmans and affiliated stores in Canada." (from Wikipedia). These stores were popular in Canada in the 1960s to 1980s.

Zellers

Zellers closed in 2013. The pencil below is a typical example of the "yellow stripe" pencil manufactured by Dixon Canada for many Canadian retailers.

Kmart

The example below is stamped "Made in Canada" but I've also seen other examples of Kmart pencils produced in other countries.

Wheatley & Wilson

Wheatley & Wilson Ltd. was a stationary supply company in Montreal, Quebec that is now long gone. I'm not sure who made these "custom made" pencils for them but I like the white stripe on the ferrule.  There are also rulers with this company's logo on it.  There is a bit more about Wheatley & Wilson on the penciltalk blog.

Librairies Pilon

Librairies Fernand Pilon started as a bookstore in the 1930s and, after World War 2, became a publishing house in Montreal, Quebec. In the 1950s, the business changed to focus mainly on selling stationery and office supplies. The name also changed from Librairies Fernand Pilon to Librairies Pilon, Inc. Four locations were opened around Montreal. Store branded pencils were sold mainly in the 1960s. It is amazing that I've run across so many of these in thrift stores in Atlantic Canada.

advertisement from August 1963

Shoppers Drug Mart

Shoppers Drug Mart is currently a thriving company in Canada. These store branded pencils where made in Canada and probably date from the late 1990s.

Looking into the history of some of these retailers is really interesting. I'm sure I'll find a few more examples of this type of pencil to add to this collection.