Ontario Discount Department Store

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Ontario Discount Department Store began as Ontario Super Mart in Lorain, Ohio, opening at 1922 Broadway in April 1958. The young chain sold the classic everything-under-one-roof mix: clothing, hardware, household goods, electronics and, at some locations, groceries. It soon expanded beyond Lorain into Ohio markets and St. Louis, Missouri.

In September 1964, Cook Coffee Co. acquired Ontario’s operation in a stock deal. Ontario continued under its own name as part of the growing Cook retail empire, alongside banners including Uncle Bill’s, Whitehall’s and later Cooks. Cook’s corporate operation was based in the Cleveland suburb of Maple Heights, while Ontario’s origin story remained firmly Lorain-made.

The 1970s brought expansion, then retrenchment. Cook United—renamed from Cook Coffee in 1969—closed Ontario’s Missouri operations in 1975. By the beginning of the 1980s, the chain had dwindled to 23 Ontario stores: enough fluorescent square footage for one more corporate plot twist.

After Cook United acquired Rink’s in 1981, it retired the Ontario nameplate. Nineteen Ontario stores became Rink’s or Cooks locations that May. Cook United later entered bankruptcy and liquidated its remaining stores at the end of 1987, but Ontario’s own sign had already faded from the plaza parade.

Our Ontario Discount Department Store collection celebrates the Lorain-born bargain emporium where discount shopping meant a cart full of useful stuff, questionable décor, and the thrilling possibility of leaving with a model kit you absolutely did not need.