Mark's Work Wearhouse

Mark's Work Wearhouse

Type	Wholly owned subsidiary
Industry	Retail
Founded	1977
Headquarters	Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Area served	Canada
Key people	Harry Taylor (Chief Operating Officer)
Products	Apparel, accessories
Parent	Canadian Tire
Website	www.marks.com

Mark's Work Wearhouse, sometimes branded as Mark's, is a Canadian clothing retailer. First opened in Calgary, Alberta in 1977 by Mark Blumes, a former retail executive with the Hudson's Bay Company, it has been owned since 2001 by Canadian Tire.^[1] It was originally called Mark's Men's Work Wearhouse, but rebranded as "Work Wearhouse" and, later, Mark's Work Wearhouse when it started carrying women's clothing in the 1980s.

In Quebec, stores had carried the name "La Ouerâsse," a meaningless French-sounding version of the word "wearhouse," but they were rebranded as L'Équipeur ("Outfitter") in 1990. As of 2007, 39 stores operate under the banner L'Équipeur. They were the official retailer of the Montreal Alouettes football team from 2005-2010.

1 Products
- 1.1 Brands
2 Satisfaction guarantee and warranty
3 Imagewear
4 FastFind
5 Stores
6 References
7 External links

Products

The company traditionally sold work clothes for labour-oriented jobs, but expanded its selection in the 1980s to include business casual clothing for both men and women, and sportswear as well. In the last few years, the company has expanded its offerings with a series of children's clothing, primarily available in Alberta and British Columbia.

Brands

The chain has a number of exclusive clothing lines, including Denver Hayes, WindRiver (casual), BluePine, Dakota (work/casual wear), and the new ladies collection, Ispiri. They still carry Levi's, Lee's, Carhartt, Point Zero, Sorel, Dickies and many other popular brands. The few franchise stores carry different brands such as Columbia.

Mark’s sells a wide variety of CSA approved footwear with brands including, but not limited to: Terra, JB Goodhue, Timberland, Wolverine, CAT, Kodiak, Cofra, Baffin, Dunlop, Aggressor, and Dakota.

Satisfaction guarantee and warranty

Mark’s has a 100% satisfaction guarantee on everything it sells (with the exception of CSA approved footwear). With an original receipt a customer can return a product and a receive a full refund in the same tender used to make the purchase. Should the customer not be able to produce an original receipt, a merchandise card will be issued in the amount that the product is currently selling for.

For safety footwear this in not applicable, instead, all CSA approved footwear is subject to a 100-day warranty against manufacturing defects, when accompanied by the original receipt. This is strictly to cover defective workmanship and is not applicable to general wear and tear or abuse. The shift manager in the store makes this determination.

Imagewear

Imagewear is a division of Mark’s that specializes in the customization of garments, generally for large business orders. This usually entails having an employee name or company name embroidered onto a garment, whether it is a shirt, a hat or even coats. In addition to fabrics, Imagewear is capable of producing branded promotional items. These include, but are not limited to, pens, keychains, golf accessories, awards and just about any other item you would want to put a logo on. Imagewear is “Canada's largest supplier of branded industrial, apparel, footwear and promotional items”.

FastFind

Available in store, FastFind is a system, which enables customers to get the products they want, when not available in a particular store. The system automatically searches store inventories across the country to determine whether the item is available. If it is, the customer’s information is then inputted, and payment is received in store. In (usually) 3-5 days the item is delivered to either the originating store, or the customer’s residence (whichever the customer’s preference). Should the item be delivered to the store, the customer will receive a phone call to let them know their item is available to be picked up at their earliest convenience.

These orders do not go to a central warehouse. Instead, they are sourced by stores, which show the proper inventory. An employee, in store, must manually accept the order, locate the item(s), create a waybill and send it off for delivery via Purolator.