# While we're at it, let's bring back Consumer's Distributing



## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

So we can buy Cabbage Patch Kids and 'personal vibrators.'


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Not too sure about cabbage patch dolls but you can buy personal vibrators everywhere. Not that expensive either at Wally World.








They even have parties same as Tupper Ware. Sometimes they're even called that. Just check with your sig other or even a family member.


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## leftysg (Mar 29, 2008)

I have enough difficulty filling out Proline or lottery tickets, let alone filling in the correct code on the slip to get the product I wanted.


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## Lincoln (Jun 2, 2008)

I bought a lot of stuff at Consumers Distributing back in the day. Good stores.


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## KapnKrunch (Jul 13, 2016)

I seem to recall that they had catalogues up front, and a counter fronting a stockroom where you received your chosen item. Wow. What a blast from the past!


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

KapnKrunch said:


> I seem to recall that they had catalogues up front, and a counter fronting a stockroom where you received your chosen item. Wow. What a blast from the past!


Exactly. I worked back end, pulling orders but also filling shelves, 1980 part time. I still have theSpalding baseball glove I bought with my employee discount.


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## Waldo97 (Jul 4, 2020)

KapnKrunch said:


> I seem to recall that they had catalogues up front, and a counter fronting a stockroom where you received your chosen item. Wow. What a blast from the past!


Like Lee Valley

or the Beer Store.


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## ZeroGravity (Mar 25, 2016)

Ok, so who remembers when the LCBO operated the same way. You looked up your product code for your liquor on a rolodex thing, filled in a slip and handed it to a guy at the counter to get out of the back


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

It was all about the cataloges.


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

is this how Amazon started?


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## ol' 58 (Jul 12, 2019)

ZeroGravity said:


> Ok, so who remembers when the LCBO operated the same way. You looked up your product code for your liquor on a rolodex thing, filled in a slip and handed it to a guy at the counter to get out of the back


By the time I started drinking legally, only one store in the area remained that way. But I clearly recall going into them with my dad and watching him complete the process.


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## ol' 58 (Jul 12, 2019)

butterknucket said:


> It was all about the cataloges.


Yup. I loved the CD catalog. And CTC. And Sears.


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## YaReMi (Mar 9, 2006)

CD catalog was very useful .. I remember my kids writing letters to Santa that went like this: Dear Santa, please bring me as follows: page no. ... item no. ... , page no. ... item no. ..., etc


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

I guess the concept failed because I don't think the stores lasted 5 years.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Distortion said:


> I guess the concept failed because I don't think the stores lasted 5 years.


Just shy of 40 years. 






Consumers Distributing - Wikipedia







en.m.wikipedia.org


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## Hammerhands (Dec 19, 2016)

Eaton's and Consumer's Distributing should have been able to make an easy transition to online.


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## keto (May 23, 2006)

Hammerhands said:


> Eaton's and Consumer's Distributing should have been able to make an easy transition to online.


I would have thought CD was lonnnnng gone by the time the internet was a thing, bu no, banko 1996, but that was real early for e-commerce. Prob Eatons too, lemme go look. 1999, they woulda had a site, at least.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

ZeroGravity said:


> Ok, so who remembers when the LCBO operated the same way. You looked up your product code for your liquor on a rolodex thing, filled in a slip and handed it to a guy at the counter to get out of the back


Or just walked up and told the guy behind the counter what you wanted. The basics were on shelves behind the counter and that was about it. No product code. I recall 5 different kinds of beer, a few different brands of Rum, Gin Scotch and Rye and maybe a few others. Not too sure what other kinds of wine they had aside from Calona Royal. A couple of the small towns around had the LCB store on one side of the general store and grocery's and hardware on the other. You could buy your Carling Okeefe beer and Crown Royal or HBC Rum on the one side, cross the aisle and get some bread and tuna and then go to the back and buy a full wood 303 and hunting and military ammo and when you paid include a carton of Export. For about the $30 or so.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

fretzel said:


> Just shy of 40 years.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I think the 2nd version Consumers Distributing Inc. out of Van lasted for a few years. Not too sure how long the online one lasted in the 2000's. 


KapnKrunch said:


> I seem to recall that they had catalogues up front, and a counter fronting a stockroom where you received your chosen item. Wow. What a blast from the past!


I remember going into one of the stores on the Coast and ordering some stuff from the catalog and being told there was none in the store so we went to Sears in BBY on Kingsway.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Hammerhands said:


> Eaton's and Consumer's Distributing should have been able to make an easy transition to online.


CD did have an online store but it didn't last. Based out of Van.


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## oldfartatplay (May 22, 2017)

Consumer's Distributing lost my custom when they told me they could not sell me anything unless I gave them my address.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)




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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

I remember them. And my dad filling out his order at the LCBO. 

When I moved to Uxbridge in the late nineties, we has a Sears catalogue outlet that lasted until at least the turn of the century. It was actually pretty handy until we got a W-Mart. If it was still operating, it would still be the only place in town where you could buy a large household appliance.


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## Distortion (Sep 16, 2015)

fretzel said:


> Just shy of 40 years.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Where? . The stores in this area were gone fast. They failed


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## MarkM (May 23, 2019)

Electraglide said:


> Not too sure about cabbage patch dolls but you can buy personal vibrators everywhere. Not that expensive either at Wally World.
> View attachment 339505
> 
> They even have parties same as Tupper Ware. Sometimes they're even called that. Just check with your sig other or even a family member.


My buddy was dating a ditzy red head that worked there so he filled out the little card with Ben Dover . She held that big old vibrator up and called out the name on the card. No reply so she yelled louder several times until the crowded pickup area burst out laughing.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

I remember those Sears catalogue pickup outlets. They were usually just a tiny store in a strip mall or plaza (and usually a rundown one at that). There was just a counter when you walked in. You gave them your order slip and they brought your order out to you.


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## bw66 (Dec 17, 2009)

butterknucket said:


> ... they brought your order out to you.


In our case, they would phone in your order and you could pick it up in 3-5 days. It also wasn't a stand-alone store, it was a counter in the back corner of some some small town enterprise. I can't even remember what the host store sold.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

bw66 said:


> In our case, they would phone in your order and you could pick it up in 3-5 days. It also wasn't a stand-alone store, it was a counter in the back corner of some some small town enterprise. I can't even remember what the host store sold.


Yeah, sometimes they were in another store as well. I remember one being inside a dry cleaning place. There were a bunch fo them where I live. Sometimes they were a tiny place in a plazza, and sometimes they were inside another store.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

The Sears catalogue pick up in our town was a flower shop.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

KapnKrunch said:


> I seem to recall that they had catalogues up front, and a counter fronting a stockroom where you received your chosen item. Wow. What a blast from the past!


Ya, it was like online ordering that you had to go to the store to do.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Distortion said:


> Where? . The stores in this area were gone fast. They failed


The locations that I knew of were in Toronto. Mid 70's-early nineties.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

bw66 said:


> In our case, they would phone in your order and you could pick it up in 3-5 days. It also wasn't a stand-alone store, it was a counter in the back corner of some some small town enterprise. I can't even remember what the host store sold.


sounds like where I grew up and there was another counter for Allstate insurance.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

fretzel said:


> The locations that I knew of were in Toronto. Mid 70's-early nineties.


Dufferin Mall comes to mind.


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## fretzel (Aug 8, 2014)

Diablo said:


> Dufferin Mall comes to mind.


The 2 I went to were at VP/Eglinton and Bayview and Eg.


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## colchar (May 22, 2010)

What about Shoprite?


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

MarkM said:


> My buddy was dating a ditzy red head that worked there so he filled out the little card with Ben Dover . She held that big old vibrator up and called out the name on the card. No reply so she yelled louder several times until the crowded pickup area burst out laughing.


Ben and his Scots cousin Phil McCavity.


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## mawmow (Nov 14, 2017)

Wooooooo....
Would bring me back almost fifty years ago !!! 8-0


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## Doug Gifford (Jun 8, 2019)

butterknucket said:


> I remember those Sears catalogue pickup outlets. They were usually just a tiny store in a strip mall or plaza (and usually a rundown one at that). There was just a counter when you walked in. You gave them your order slip and they brought your order out to you.


We had a Sears catalogue store here until maybe three years ago. Appliances out front. That space is still empty and a local startup is doing the appliances in town.


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## Fred Gifford (Sep 2, 2019)

I used to frequent the Consumers Distributing at Midland and Midwest Rd.s all the time ..


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Fred Gifford said:


> I used to frequent the Consumers Distributing at Midland and Midwest Rd.s all the time ..


Me, it was the Shoprite on Kingston Rd, west of Midland.


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## Guncho (Jun 16, 2015)

We used to go to Consumer's Distributing in high school and order a big box of nitrous oxide canisters for uhhh making whip cream at parties.


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## PBGas (Jan 14, 2017)

I remember those days as a young kid! Got my first radio there after seeing the catalog! You’d go in, fill out the sheet with the catalog number and wait for it to come down the conveyor. 

Oh the anticipation!

now we just wait for the truck to show up.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

PBGas said:


> I remember those days as a young kid! Got my first radio there after seeing the catalog! You’d go in, fill out the sheet with the catalog number and wait for it to come down the conveyor.
> 
> Oh the anticipation!
> 
> now we just wait for the truck to show up.


And someone else to grab it off your porch.


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## jb welder (Sep 14, 2010)

vadsy said:


> is this how Amazon started?


Yep. Bezos started out working in the back with Keto. Trying to read all that crappy handwriting gave him the crazy-eye.


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## slag banal (May 4, 2020)

OMG I worked in their warehouse on Bellfield in Rexdale for minimum wage Just out of high school I was saving for a Marshall and Gibson LP. GOT BOTH AN QUIT.


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## Ricktoberfest (Jun 22, 2014)

oldfartatplay said:


> Consumer's Distributing lost my custom when they told me they could not sell me anything unless I gave them my address.


Funny enough, that’s why I boycott my local hookers too. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Ricktoberfest said:


> Funny enough, that’s why I boycott my local hookers too.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Just pay them cash then park on a side street.


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## laristotle (Aug 29, 2019)

Electraglide said:


> Just pay them cash then park on a side street.


Cars are too small now. Ah, the days of the land yachts, eh?!


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

laristotle said:


> Cars are too small now. Ah, the days of the land yachts, eh?!


Not if you leave the windows open. Mind you this one was the best for drive ins.....fold down all the seats including the front bench and you had a mobile bed.


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## butterknucket (Feb 5, 2006)

70's custom vans were better.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

MarkM said:


> My buddy was dating a ditzy red head that worked there so he filled out the little card with Ben Dover . She held that big old vibrator up and called out the name on the card. No reply so she yelled louder several times until the crowded pickup area burst out laughing.


I used to work at CD in Georgetown ON when I was in high school. This was a common prank.


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## Sneaky (Feb 14, 2006)

Electraglide said:


> Not if you leave the windows open. Mind you this one was the best for drive ins.....fold down all the seats including the front bench and you had a mobile bed.
> View attachment 339904


I had one of those, just the sedan though, not the wagon. '64 Classic 770. Still great for drive ins.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

butterknucket said:


> 70's custom vans were better.


Nope. Not unless everything was removable. Had a '76 Tradesman Shagging Wagon.....insulated, carpeted walls, fridge, bed, the whole 9 yards with swivel bucket seats. The full 9 yards including a double battery set up. It was ok for a short time. The Rambler was a lot more fun.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

laristotle said:


> Cars are too small now. Ah, the days of the land yachts, eh?!


Back in high school, I made out ok in in the backseat my 61' Mini










Course' we were much bendier in those days (and highly motivated, I might add).


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## Waldo97 (Jul 4, 2020)

Passenger seat of a TR7.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Waldo97 said:


> Passenger seat of a TR7.


'62 MGA works too. Same with motorcycle seats but not as much privacy.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

Electraglide said:


> '62 MGA works too. Same with motorcycle seats but not as much privacy.


That'd require some conviction - those buckets didn't recline. The TR7 would be like my MGB - take some time to get in and out of position but quite comfy once you're there. Only once had to untwine with a cop's flashlight shining on my butt. Felt like it took 20 minutes. Heck of a memory though


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

allthumbs56 said:


> That'd require some conviction - those buckets didn't recline. The TR7 would be like my MGB - take some time to get in and out of position but quite comfy once you're there. Only once had to untwine with a cop's flashlight shining on my butt. Felt like it took 20 minutes. Heck of a memory though


Um, yeah, 'conviction' is one way to put it. The one nice thing about the A was the leg room, especially on the passangers side. The seats sat right on the floor and I could stretch out on the passangers side. There was enough space between the floor and the dash to fit two people with room to spare. The doors were longer than a TR or a B so it took no time at all to walk around and slide into the passanger seat. Tried going over the hump once.....not adviced. Plus I was in my early 20s and nothing hurt. I actually found that the A was a lot harder for a short person to drive.....the seat didn't go forward enough.


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## Electraglide (Jan 24, 2010)

Guncho said:


> We used to go to Consumer's Distributing in high school and order a big box of nitrous oxide canisters for uhhh making whip cream at parties.


Um, yeah, we did the same thing and for some reason the recipe called for a modified WWII gas mask....strange. Now a days they just take quick hits from canned whipped cream. I don't remember if you could get canned whipped cream from Consumers or not. Just as fast to pick it up ad Safeways along with chocolate sauce and strawberries.


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## SWLABR (Nov 7, 2017)

I remember CD. We would look up stuff in their catalogue at home (in St David's) and drive aaaaallllll the way to Niagara Falls, fill out the little card, hand to the (oh so helpful) clerk.... wait... wait..."We don't have it". Then we'd walk across the parking lot to the Towers, find it on a self, buy it, and go home. 

Yep, the good ole days!


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## vadsy (Dec 2, 2010)

SWLABR said:


> I remember CD. We would look up stuff in their catalogue at home (in St David's) and drive aaaaallllll the way to Niagara Falls, fill out the little card, hand to the (oh so helpful) clerk.... wait... wait..."We don't have it". Then we'd walk across the parking lot to the Towers, find it on a self, buy it, and go home.
> 
> Yep, the good ole days!


when you put it that way I don't know how it could have failed.../s


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