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BiWay was a Canadian discount department store chain founded in 1958 by Abe and Mal Coven.
History[]
The first Bi Way location opened in 1958 in Toronto, Ontario. Their concept was to price certain items very low and advertise the sales to bring people into the store. This concept worked very well and continued for several years.
In the 1960s, Bi Way opened another store in Waterloo, Ontario. However, the store eventually became mismanaged and was closed soon after. Next, they tried another location in Port Credit, Ontario. This location was much more successful. Bi Way made deals with their suppliers so they could buy items at lower costs than other retailers. This meant they could afford to keep all of their prices low and only mark up their items by 25% compared to the usual 30-50% at other stores.
Eventually, Bi Way opened a couple more locations in Ontario. In the late 1960s, Russ Jacobson joined the two brothers-in-law who currently ran Bi Way. As he already had experience in other retail stores, his expertise made Bi Way even more successful, and they opened several more stores.
In the 1970s, Bi Way made a deal with Levi’s to sell their jeans. Usually, Levi’s didn’t want their products sold at discount stores, but Abe and Mal went directly to the CEO of Levi’s so they could sell their jeans at lower prices. Bi Way eventually became the third-largest seller of Levi’s jeans in Canada. Bi Way made similar deals with companies such as Bata shoes, and as Bi Way still stuck with their 25% markup, they could sell name-brand products for much lower prices compared to their competitors such as Hudson’s Bay or Sears Canada.
In the late 1970s, Dylex ended up buying Bi Way, which made stores spread quickly outside of Ontario. Bi Way also took over Dylex’s Family Fair chain, and they were all rebranded to Bi Way stores.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Bi Way expanded throughout Ontario and eventually to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and western Canada.
In the late 1980s, Bi Way reached 249 stores across Canada.
In 1987, 1990, and 1991, the three original owners of Bi Way left the company and retired, leaving Dylex to solely lead the company.
Because of the original owners leaving, the company quickly declined. In the early 1990s, Bi Way closed all of their western locations.
In 1995, Bi Way filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (the reorganization kind, not the liquidation kind). They ended up closing even more stores throughout Canada.
In 2001, Dylex was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy (the liquidation kind) and closed all of their stores. A few locations remained in Toronto, but they closed by 2004. Many Bi Way stores were turned into Dollarama stores.
In 2019, one of the original owners of Bi Way decided to open a store in Toronto, Ontario. Unfortunately, the store opening was delayed due to COVID-19, and he ended up dying at 91 years old before the store could open, so the project was cancelled.
Locations[]
- Main article: BiWay/Locations