Sears Canada began its operations as Simpsons-Sears Limited, a catalogue and mid-market suburban retailer, in 1952. The company was formed as a joint-venture between the Robert Simpson Company (Simpson's), an existing Canadian department store retailer, and Sears, Roebuck and Co. of the United States. The purpose of the joint-venture was to take over the existing Simpson's catalogue operations, and to build new stores in markets that were not already served by existing Simpson's stores, leveraging Sears-Roebuck's strong buying power and organization.In 1971, the company opened its new head office building in downtown Toronto.
In 1973-1974, Simpsons-Sears opened its first stores in metropolitan areas already served by Simpson's (although in suburban areas well away from the downtown Simpson's stores), the first such being in Mississauga, Ontario. So, to avoid confusing customers, these new stores were opened under the "Sears" banner. All existing Simpsons-Sears stores were rebranded to the Sears banner as well. However, the name of the entity remained Simpsons-Sears.
In 1976, Simpsons-Sears inaugurated a Sears store at Galeries d'Anjou, its first location in a mall with a Simpsons store.
The Hudson's Bay Company acquired Simpsons in 1978. Because of federal competition laws, the Hudson's Bay Company was required to divest itself of its interest in Simpsons-Sears, which had been held by Simpsons, and the chain was formally renamed Sears Canada Inc. in 1984. The Hudson's Bay Company eventually merged the remaining Simpsons stores into its the Bay division in 1991, and the Simpsons name disappeared from Canada's retail landscape. As a result of this move, Sears Canada took over eight former Simpson's and Bay stores and finally gained a major foothold in Toronto.