Tip Top: Burberry

Hudson Bay Company Dept: These days, the retailer is the newest one on the block to reach back to its roots and play the heritage card. History is dusty no more as brands of all stripes think Hudson Bay Company and Burberry sell their past to build on the future. Tip Top is doing just that with its Grafton 1853 collection, named after its founders and founding year, according to The Star. Retailers are clinging to the heritage retail craze during these uncertain economic times since it seems nothing is more comforting than a label that has withstood the tests of other hard times. Tip Top is using Grafton 1853 as the name for its new luxury collection, which includes nine essential pieces and looming over the foot of Bathurst St., a Tip Top Tailors sign looms high on Lake Shore Blvd. and is seen by about 400,000 commuters every day. Though it stands on what is now a condo building, the sign was originally installed to indicate the factory and office base of one of Canada s oldest retailers. Tip Top, which has 102 mostly mall-based stores across the country, was founded in 1909, but the company through various mergers and acquisitions including Jack Fraser stores and Mr. Big and Tall actually dates back to 1853. The made-to-measure millinery, gentlemen s apparel and dry goods shop was founded by Irish immigrant James Grafton. It was originally called Gregson & Grafton. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.