168, Yonge Street, Toronto.
Kent Bros., Watch-makers And Jewellers, 168 Yonge Street.–This establishment is not only a splendid monument to the intelligent enterprise of its management, but it is one of those houses whose great and honourable success reflects lustre upon the name of the city. It is leader in its line, and holds a commanding position among the mercantile institutions of the country. Dealing with the loveliest forms of artistic production, it has contributed largely to the elevation of the standard of taste and culture among the people, and its own progress has kept it in the lead of the general advance, at every step satisfying the more critical demands of the improved conditions it was prominently instrumental in creating.
The firm consists of Andrew Kent and Benjamin Kent, and was established in the year 1867. The enterprise and experience of the proprietors made it a success from the start. In the year 1881 they erected the handsome and imposing structure which they at present occupy, one of the finest in the city, where their business has grown to such a magnitude as gives it a powerful influence in the support and promotion of the city's prosperity.
The business includes the manufacture of watches, gold and silver-ware, in which the house has an extensive trade and a reputation second to that of no other similar concern in the country. Also diamond setting, for which the firm is equally well and widely noted, and its productions in that line are universally acknowledged to be unrivalled in design and workmanship. The firm also deals extensively in electro silver-plated table-ware, American and foreign watches from the best and reliable makers, bronzes, clocks, jewellery, chains and elegant Bijouterie of every description–in fact everything that a jewellery-store needs.
The department allotted to diamonds and precious stones displays the genius and skill of the jeweller in their highest development. The gems are purchased in Europe, being carefully selected for their flawless beauty and perfect shape, the mounting and setting being done by the firm.
In the spacious store-rooms, on a level with the street, which are fairly ablaze with the magnificent exhibition of beautiful goods, is one of the finest collections of bronzes, gold and silver ornaments, watches, clocks, modern novelties side by side with the rarest works of art hundreds of years old, elegant ceramic-ware, fine clock-cases, etc.
The manufacturing departments are equipped with the most approved devices to aid in the delicate processes, which include engine-turning, etching and enameling. The firm is able to produce work fully equal to the best imported goods in watches or jewellery.
The house, as well its goods, is a favourite with its many customers on account of its honourable methods and conscientious regard for the interest of its patrons, every repsesentation being scrupulously exact, and the great resources of the immense concern enabling it to offer a wider and better range of selection and more advantageous terms than any other house less thoroughly equipped. Kent Bros. name is inseparably connected with the history of the jewellery trade of Toronto, in which they have been a prominent figure for the last sixteen years, and their pride in the colossal enterprise they have established is shared by the community, among whose industrial and mercantile interests it wields so potent and valuable an influence.
Source: Toronto: Past and Present: A Handbook of the City - Charles Pelham Mulvany - 1884
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