Ogilvy’s Christmas windows are at the McCord
Ogilvy’s mechanical Christmas window was a familiar seasonal feature for generations of Montrealers. There were actually two dioramas, which were put up in alternate years. Now both are on display at the McCord museum, one outside, and one inside viewable for free.
ProposMontreal 10:02 on 2019-11-24 Permalink
Ogilvy’s stopped the Christmas window and the bagpipes at noon almost in the same year. I thought that traditions would be more important than that for the brand. At least they kept the English only staff.
Kate 10:28 on 2019-11-24 Permalink
Ogilvy’s was bought by Holt Renfrew around that time, and the “brand” had been crumbling for years. When I was a kid they were still serving afternoon tea, British style – I was taken there once by my godmother. There used to be a book department that sold titles you couldn’t get anywhere else (yes, all in English, and mostly from England) and a candy counter to dream of, with British and European treats you also couldn’t get anywhere else. I never bought anything but books and candy there myself, but was aware of very posh sort of tweedy clothes and accessories also being sold there, the whole thing very late British empire but definitely with its clientele in Westmount and around. Not so much any more.
I’d be very surprised if the owners of Holt’s and Ogilvy’s now would hire anyone who couldn’t speak French.
Uatu 10:46 on 2019-11-24 Permalink
My friends from the UK loved the tea room and the marks and Sparks in the basement. Those days of destination department stores with a restaurant etc are long a thing of the past
mare 12:22 on 2019-11-24 Permalink
I liked the bears. Apparently the German plush animal company that made it, sold many more to other stores.
Speaking of Ogilviy, how would you pronounce it? I pronounce it a oGILvy, but my wife puts the emphasis on the Y.
(An ex girlfriend worked as a receptionist for Ogilvy & Mather, a famous advertising agency in Europe, and that’s how she pronounced it when picking up the phone a few hundred times a day.)
Kate 12:44 on 2019-11-24 Permalink
The emphasis is on the first syllable, mare. I would hardly recognize it if someone said oGILvy.
Imagine someone saying ogle-be, and put in a V instead.
Uatu, was Marks and Spencer in the Ogilvy basement? I only remember it being a standalone in the mall at Mansfield, I think it was where Zara is now.
Uatu 16:56 on 2019-11-24 Permalink
Yes. It wasn’t a standalone store but a marked off section with rows of their merch of cookies, puddings, teas, cakes etc. The store in place mtl. Trust came later in the 90s and had the space for clothes etc.
Max 03:58 on 2019-11-25 Permalink
Dumb-ass Ogilvy’s story from about a decade back. When they had the papeterie in the basement in the back-left corner. I was Christmas shopping one year, decided on a 6-inch aluminum ruler with the triangular cross-section and the various scales for my brother. $10 or whatever. I take it to the cash where the (gay AF) cashier dude rings it up and asks if I’d like a bag. The idea of a bag for such a tiny purchase stuck in my craw a bit, so I stared him right in the eye and asked if I could see his bag first. About two seconds later we both broke into unconstrained hysterical laughter you could hear throughout the whole floor.
My brother’s gone now. I wish I could find that cashier and give him a great big hug.
Raymond Lutz 09:29 on 2019-11-25 Permalink
Les deux solitudes? Non.
Moi aussi, j’ai de bons souvenir de ce magasin et me souviens à quel point le joueur de cornemuse me paraissait ‘cool’. Adolescent, j’allais quelques fois rejoindre ma mère au restaurant où elle mangeait sur son heure de dîner (she was a lab technician at the federal Minister of Agriculture nearby)