Ed Mirvish Legacy

Ed Mirvish was a successful salesman, businessman, and family man. Mirvish’s legacy is valued as such, but he is also remembered as the fun-loving, giving and cheerful face of Honest Ed’s, as well as a man who had an enormous impact on bringing theatre to Toronto, Ontario. His success however, did not come easily. Ed Mirvish’s humble upbringing, eccentric and cheerful personality and desire for giving back are qualities that truly brought his business from nothing to a household name in Toronto, Ontario.
Ed Mirvish’s difficult upbringing is what kept him incredibly humble, even after reaching great success. Born in Virginia to two immigrant parents in 1914, Mirvish was surrounded by a passion and drive for business from the beginning. His father

Ed Mirvish was literally living in rags – but the eventual riches came with sacrifice. Looking back, Mirvish stated "Many of the kids I grew up with in downtown Toronto wound up either dead or in prison," Ed dropped out of high school at 15 years old to run the family grocery store after the death of his father. He then became the sole provider for himself, his mother and two siblings. Mirvish was involved in a few businesses after he sold the grocery store. In the following years he ran a dry cleaning business with a friend, worked as a produce manager and eventually married and opened a dress store with wife Anne Mackin. Following the birth of their son in 1945, Ed decided to cash his wife’s insurance policy that he had bought her as a wedding gift, and open a new business; a discount store. Mirvish filled the shelves with knick knacks and odd items at cheap prices, and this simple selling tactic attracted customers and became a quick success. Honest Ed’s eventually expanded throughout an entire block continuing from Bloor Street, Bathurst and Markham Street. The success of the store was incredible for the family, but Ed also had a passion for theatre that he now had the finances to explore. When the

This creative advantage boosted his success and career, as marketing historically has limited techniques. First of all, Ed took part in many different publicity acts. Along with giving out thousands of turkeys, Ed also began to have annual celebrations at Honest Ed’s for his birthday, providing free food and entertainment along the entire block. When he was asked about the unique events, questioning the expenses and reasoning, Mirvish remarked “"You didn't need an education to figure out that it was cheaper and more interesting to have news articles written about our events than paying for them,". Secondly, Mirvish paid members of the public to think of clever slogans for the store, the creative twist being that Mirvish himself had to be the butt of the joke. Clever sayings like “Honest Ed attracts squirrels — at his prices they think he’s nuts” and “Honest Ed is for the birds — his prices are cheap, cheap, cheap” only enhanced advertising for the store. Finally, Honest Ed was the one of the first business people to introduce the concept of a “loss leader”. The concept of loss leader pricing is defined as an aggressive pricing strategy in which a store sells selected goods below cost in order to attract customers who will, make up for the losses on highlighted products with additional purchases of profitable goods.