Honest Ed sells off its signs
Then it plans to paint more, at least till it shuts
In the 66 years that Honest Ed’s has flogged bargains, there is one thing the store has never sold: the iconic hand-painted cardboard signs, mostly in red, yellow and blue, that it uses to advertise merchandise inside the stores.
But the store has saved the signs. On Monday the store will put more than 1,000 of these signs up for sale, to raise money for charity. In keeping with the store’s discount philosophy, the cardboard signs are going cheap.
A one-metre by 50-centimetre sign reading, “Ed’s Hot Deals on Heaters,” for example, will sell for $4. A heartshaped sign about a metre high, reading, “Valentine’s Day Sweets for the Sweetie,’ is $4.
“It ’s real Shakespeare,” joked Russell Lazar, the store’s general manager, who has worked at Honest Ed’s for 55 years. “People want a piece of Honest Ed’s.”
The biggest sign, about 2.5 metres by 1.2. metres, backed on wood and covered in plastic, depicts Ed Mirvish, the late owner of the store, coming out of a birthday cake, and reads, “Happy birthday to me. Everyone’s invited and everything is absolutely free.” That will retail for a princely $100.
“I didn’t want to part with it but hopefully it will go to a good home,” Mr. Lazar said.
A sign shaped like a pumpkin, reading, “Wigs: $6.99 - $13.99,” is $4.
A news release in the store’s breathless style promises, “Each item sold will be stamped with a ‘ stamp of authenticity’ and signed by Ed’s celebrity show card sign writers or long-time managers.”
These may be the first signs that Honest Ed’s puts up for sale, but they will not be the last.
The discounter employs two sign-painters full time, Wayne Reuben and Douglas Kerr. They work non-stop with watercolour brushes and tempera paint in blue, yellow and red, and show no signs of letting up.
Asked what the store will do without the signs it is selling, Mr. Lazar said simply, “We will paint more signs.”
Westbank Projects Corp., the Vancouver-based developers behind Toronto’s Shangri La hotel on University Avenue, bought Honest Ed’s and the surrounding Mirvish Village in October. The discount retailer will stay open at least until Dec. 31, 2016, Mr. Lazar said Thursday.
The store is setting up a gallery on the second floor in its men’s department, with signs displayed and in bins. The sale will run Monday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.