Article, "Sign of the Times."

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Ottawa Jewish Archives via Canadian Jewish Heritage Network (incl. Alex Dworkin Canadian Jewish Archives)

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Brad Evenson, The Ottawa Citizen

Dates

November 6, 1990 (indexed as 1990)

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item

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1 newspaper clipping

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Clothing StoreFur CoatManNewspaper ClippingPortraitShopShop SignShopkeeperTagged automatically by a vision model; may contain mistakes.

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NOV 6,1990CitizenA signof the timesBy Brad EvensonAfter 71 years in business, M. Caplan Furs at 219 Bank St. is closing.Caplan's final clearance sale begins Nov. 14.M. CAPLAN FURSFinal FlingJohn Caplan is closing 71-year-old family business due to slow sales—Pat McGrath, Citizen—Wayne Hiebert, CitizenFUR SINCE 1919Citizen staff writerPowerful forces have moved John Caplan's life.His father Meyer forced him into the family fur business 44 years ago. And now the environmental lobby is forcing him out."It would have been absolutely ridiculous to carry on," said John Caplan, 76. "We didn't declare bankruptcy, but if we stayed open it would have happened."Caplan said the environmental movement is putting furriers out of business the world over."Some very important department stores, like Harrod's in England, have dropped their fur department. I guess you know in England the environmentalists are very strong."We feel the environmentalists are going to win this. The fur business is in a bad way."Del Heylock, executive vice-president of the Fur Council of Canada, an industry association, doesn't share Caplan's pessimism.The fur industry is "maintaining or increasing slightly," said Heylock. The council surveyed 50 fur retailers recently and found unit sales had increased by five per cent.Heylock said revenues are down "from the standpoint of dollar sales. That's because prices for coats have dropped over the last three years."However, statistics gathered by the International Wildlife Coalition show that in 1988-89, roughly 1.5 million fewer animals were trapped in Canada than the year before.Closing fur stores is "exactly what we're trying to do," said Ann Doncaster, Canadian program director for the coalition."The only way to stop the trapping of animals for fur, is for people to stop selling it."Bill Williams, manager of Molot Furs, confirmed business is down."It could be better," Williams said. "As far as I'm concerned, the fur trade is bad. I think things are coming back, but maybe I'm the eternal optimist."For Caplan, it's a sad retirement. He joined the firm in 1946 when, armed with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen's University, he was pressed into it by his father."I had no intention of going into the fur business."Caplan said five sales staff and five trade workers from the store's small factory will be put out of work. Pat Flesher Furs is to pick up all after-sales service, storage and insurance services of Caplan-sold furs.Read automatically; may contain mistakes.

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2026-10-16T07:54:25Z · source datestamp n/a · cjhn

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