"Your wife goes out to buy the groceries or a pair of hose or kiddies' underwear, but she goes out to shop for furniture, for interesting gifts, expensive dresses.
[7] While the company was privately owned, woes surrounding its Horizon stores were publicly known, with the Financial Post claiming sales dipped after the 1972 Christmas season.
[9] Horizon brand general manager W. A. Kelley was promoted to vice-president of distribution soon after the stores began operating, part of a larger issue with operations-level turnover.
[9] National Post reported that Horizon stopped carrying refrigerators in autumn 1973, as they weren't selling because of the store's lack of delivery service.
[8] A latter book countered that the store's self-serve format were to blame, as "...there was no floor staff to explain the different features on something such as a line of refrigerators.
[10] T. Eaton decided in January 1976 to end its catalogue division, sparking analyst suggestion that Horizon would be wound down immediately after.
[5] Unnamed analysts quoted by the Star and Globe suggested that T. Eaton entered the discount too late, after K-Mart, Woolco and Zellers were well-established, and didn't expand enough to be noticed in the market.
[12] The company's poor financials in the 1980s have been attributed to Horizon and its involvement in the Ontario Downtown Renewal Program, leading to cuts in the 1980s that sparked unionization in various store locations and a strike in 1985.