Leon's

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For the restaurant, see Leon's Frozen Custard.
Leon's Furniture Limited
Public
Industry Home Furnishing Stores
Founded 1909 in Welland, Ontario
Headquarters Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Revenue CAD 1.97 Billion (2015) [1] key people = Ablan Leon, Founder
Terry Leon, President/CEO
Dominic Scarangella, Vice-President/CFO
Edward Leon, Vice-President/TFM
Number of employees
 2,864[2]
Website www.leons.ca

Leon's Furniture Limited (TSX: LNF) Meubles Léon Limité in Quebec is a Canadian furniture retailer which first opened its store in 1909 in Welland, Ontario. The controlling interest in the company is owned by the Leon family, while some shares are traded publicly on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company has stores in all provinces of Canada except British Columbia.[3]

History

Leon's originated in the city of Welland, Ontario, near the US border in the Niagara Region. It was founded by Ablan Leon, a Lebanese immigrant, who started out as a door-to-door salesman. He was able to open a store with his profits in 1909. The original store was a dry goods outlet, which subsequently converted to furniture sales.

Leon's original store was staffed primarily by his family. When he died in 1942, he left the company to his children. After expanding the original location, they built new stores in southwestern Ontario.

The company moved into the Toronto area in the subsequent decades, purchasing several established outlets in the city and then converting them to the Leon's name. The company went public in 1969 and opened its first warehouse showroom in 1973, touting it as the only one in Canada.

Today, roughly half of the store's more than 50 outlets are owned corporately, while the remainder, mainly in rural areas or in cities with lower populations, are owned by franchisees. There were briefly two stores in Arizona in the mid 1990s.[4]

On November 11, 2012, Leon's announced plans to acquire competing furniture chain The Brick for $700 million.[3]

Products

Leon's markets mid-range furniture, appliances and electronics; some items are discount, and some stores contain high-end showrooms with higher-priced items available. A major part of Leon's marketing strategy is its financing plans, which allow customers to defer payments for various lengths of time (the most common of which are 6 and 18-month terms). This financing is offered through Visa Desjardins.

In an effort to attract customers living in condos or smaller dwellings, Leon's launched their Urban Living Collection in June 2007, comprising smaller sized sofas, bedrooms and dining sets.

Personnel

Leon's staff is separated into numerous departments in many of its corporate locations (franchise operating procedures tend to vary). Deliveries, sales, service, and front office are all separate departments in most locations. Employees receive a number of benefits, including profit sharing and other benefits packages for full-time staff.

Slogans

  • "All the savings you can carry" - mid-late 1970s
  • "It's a better way to buy furniture" - 1992
  • "Canada's Only Furniture Superstore" - 2000
  • "Leon's - Where Big is Beautiful - In So Many Ways"
  • "Leon's - It's All About trust" - 2004–present

Charities

For their 100th anniversary in Canada, Leon's made a contribution to Boys & Girls Clubs of Canada of Canada, a charitable organization, that provides programs for health and physical education to children and youth. They also made charitable contributions to local hospitals in each community where the chain operates a store.

Some other charities that they help support are:

  • Canadian Cancer Society-South York Region Unit
  • Boys and Girls Club of Canada
  • South Lake Regional Healthcare Centre (Hospital)
  • Newmarket Salvation Army
  • Enfant-Jesus hospital.
  • Operation Enfant Soleil
  • St. Louise Outreach Center
  • Salvation Army, Brampton
  • Simcoe Hall Settlement House
  • YWCA, Whitby
  • The Food Bank, Kitchener
  • Burlington Country and Blues Festival with proceeds going to the Joseph Brant Hospital
  • Canadian Cancer Society
  • Simcoe Community Services
  • Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region
  • The Welland Rose Festival
  • The Boys and Girls Club of Lachine
  • Ste. Annes Veterans
  • The Mustard Seed, Calgary
  • Cerebral Palsy Association
  • Toronto Heritage Rail Museum
  • Santa Clause Parade, Sudbury
  • Hospice House
  • La Soupe Communautaire de la Paroisse Ste-Rose
  • Canadian Cancer Relay for Life, Sault Ste.Marie
  • Winnipeg Harvest
  • Good Shepherd Society in Hamilton
  • Credit Valley Hospital[5]

Competition

Competitors of Leon's include:

References

  1. ↑ http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/LEON%27S_FURNITURE_LTD_%28LNF%29/Data/Revenue
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Leon’s buys The Brick in $700-million deal
  4. ↑ There are plenty of dividend options beyond banks The Globe and Mail March 8, 2008
  5. ↑ http://www.leons.monstermediaworks.ca/en/Corporate_Citizenship/

External links

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