ABSTRACT
In January 1926, Toronto's T. Eaton Company opened a new model house on the main floor of the department store's House Furnishings Building. Known as the Thrift House, the model was a life-sized representation of a two-storey, six-room dwelling with a simplified neo-Georgian exterior similar to those being built in the middle-class suburbs to the north and west of the city center. At its inception, the Thrift House was an integral part of a promotional campaign designed to inform Torontonians about Eaton's new deferred purchasing plan, an installment credit service that allowed customers to buy certain goods on time terms. In the 1920s, however, Toronto's retail landscape was changing. Eaton's main competitor, the Robert Simpson Company, had introduced deferred payment for furniture and household appliances in 1915. Initially offered only during Simpson's semi-annual house furnishings sales, the plan allowed approved customers to buy merchandize on an installment basis while prices were at their lowest.
