The company began in 1911 as The Canadian Stamp Company under the entrepreneurship of an Icelander, Mr. S. O. Bjerring and a Scotsman, Mr. Gillon. Having learned their trade by working for the Manitoba Stamp & Stencil Co., they manufactured solid quality products which caused business to flourish. It wasn’t until the late 1950’s that the name of the company was changed to the familiar “Canadian Rubber Stamp Co.”, owned and operated at that time by Ted Clay, Art Hardman and Albert Clay. A major fire in 1965 resulted in a total loss of assets and destruction of the building at 324 Smith Street. After the fire, Albert Clay retired with Wilf Bromilow coming in as an equal partner. The company was relocated at 370 Notre Dame Avenue. In 1974, Art Hardman decided it was time to retire. In 1975, another move took place to the 1422 Notre Dame location. Shortly thereafter, Wilf passed away and ownership was shared between Ted Clay and Mastermark Systems Inc. In 1988, Ted Clay also retired. A new building was purchased at the present location of 135 Midland Street (off Notre Dame Ave) and the company name was changed to Canadian Marking Systems to reflect the diversity of products available.
Ted’s son-in-law, Terry Bias, became the general manager until April 2002, when he purchased the company. As its president, Terry is committed to carrying on the company’s tradition of quality and fast, courteous service. The company is now operating as a division of CanMarK Industries Ltd.
CanMark, in one form or another, will be 100 in only 2 years. For a 98 year old, we're pretty sharp.
" I didn't realize how easy it was to shop on line for self inking stamps. It was easy and a breeze to go through the step by step process. "
