Honest Ed's

Honest Ed’s is up for sale.

For anyone outside of Toronto, that probably doesn’t mean much. For anyone who has lived in Toronto, or spent any time in the city, it’s a historic event.

For the uninitiated, Honest Ed’s is a sprawling discount store located on Bloor and Bathurst Streets, just west of the University of Toronto campus. The 160,000-square-foot building opened in 1948. It’s comparable to a Bargain Store or a Dollar Store, but much, much bigger, with plenty of unexpected finds inside.

Plastic Elvis busts, tinned food, bins of housewares, Velcro running shoes — it’s all inside. And the outside, well, it’s all orange and red and flashing lights, you really can’t miss it. The store’s facade presents a photo-op for anyone visiting the city, or even for anyone walking by.

The news was first reported by the National Post Tuesday, which says that the Mirvish family has quietly listed the building, and the land surrounding it. The Post estimates the transaction could be worth as much as $100 million. Considering the store’s massive size and location — along a subway line and in the hip and upscale Annex neighbourhood — this isn’t out of line.

Honest Ed's is for sale. It's the first business to be offered at $1,000,000,000.99 #Toronto

Big City Jack Layton was out talking up mass transit funding this morning, his podium set up hard by the streetcar track at Bathurst Street station in Toronto, the lights of Honest Ed’s beloved urban-kitsch sign twinkling just down the block.

In 1985, Ed Mirvish enjoyed such a high profile that Japanese and American businessmen came to visit him in search of his secret

From the archives: How Honest Ed’s insane-sounding business tactics helped him outsell every discount house in Canada