pyramid power at the art shoppe

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951: VINTAGE SATURDAY NIGHT AD OF THE DAY

Vintage Ad #41 - The Company Store
(Yeah, it's been a crazy week here, hence the large number of "vintage ad" posts recently. While prepping for future posts and such, may as well put the finishing touches on a couple of entries that have sat in draft limbo for awhile).

Every morning on my walk to work, I cross Yonge in front of The Art Shoppe. I've never gone in, despite the well-arranged displays in the front windows (some good, some bizarre - metallic greyhounds?), probably due to my furniture price range being limited to IKEA.

Note the pyramid pictured, which I'm guessing plays into the "abstract mystery usually associated with office planning". Pyramid power reached its height in Toronto during the Maple Leafs' 1976 playoff run, when coach Red Kelly placed pyramids around the dressing room and under the bench, evidently as a confidence booster and a means to distract the team from the latest outbursts from irascible owner Harold Ballard (1972 CBC clip of Pal Hal's brief prison term - we'll spare you his infamous '79 outburst about certain reporters).

Meanwhile, the plants in the back make me think of "the cheap plant" Guy Caballero always kicked/shot at on SCTV...except that if the foliage came from the Art Shoppe, it wouldn't be so cheap.

Pity Mr. Businessman, so lacking in colour. He may have secured a decent office set for his coworkers, but his utter lack of personality and grey demeanor led to his being let go during a round of belt-tightening at A.T. & Love in 1980.

Note the other location of the store: Bermuda. Were any luxury dining tables been lost in the triangle?

Source: Saturday Night, March 1978

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