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Carlton Cards

Carlton Cards
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryGreeting cards
Founded1920 (1920)
HeadquartersMississauga, Ontario[1],
Canada
Area served
Canada
ServicesGreeting cards
ParentAmerican Greetings
Websiteofficial website

Carlton Cards Limited (French: Cartes Carlton Limitée) is a greeting card company in Canada. Its lines of cards include Carlton, Gibson and Tender Thoughts. It also distributes the American Greetings line of cards in Canada. Since 2009, "Carlton Card Retail" has been owned by Schurman Retail Group, its wholesale division remaining with American Greetings;[2] the stores closed in 2020.[3] The closure does not impact the 6000 Canadian retail locations that sell Carlton Cards products.[3]

Carlton Cards was founded by Hubert Harry Harshman in Toronto, Ontario, in 1920. By 1933, it became incorporated. In 1956, Carlton Cards was purchased by American Greetings. Little is known about Harshman, but he did file a patent for card display with United States Patent Office in 1928.[4]

Carlton Cards at Hillcrest Mall in 2014 (left) and the same store during a store closing sale in 2020 (right).
  1. ^ "Carlton Cards Limited".
  2. ^ "American Greetings Sells Retail Stores to Schurman Fine Papers and Purchases Papyrus Brand" (Press release). Cleveland: American Greetings. Canada NewsWire. 17 April 2009. (accessed via ProQuest)
  3. ^ a b Jackson, Hannah (22 January 2020). "Carlton Cards, Papyrus stores in North America to close within weeks". Global News. Toronto ON. Retrieved 23 January 2020.
  4. ^ Office, United States Patent (1930). Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office. The Office.