Harry Rosen

Harry Rosen, CM (born 1931) is the founder and executive chairman of the Canadian luxury men's wear store Harry Rosen Inc., which in 2015 was Canada's largest upscale menswear retailer.

Born and raised in Toronto, Rosen lived for a short time in Callander, Ontario. As a teenager he found a job at a men's haberdashery shop. There he learned about the composition of clothing and, more importantly, about men's shopping habits.

After dropping out of high school he borrowed $500 and opened a men's clothing store.

With help from a family friend and connections in the cloth manufacturing business, he opened Harry Rosen Inc., on February 4, 1954 in Cabbagetown, Toronto, with his brother Lou.

In 1961, the store moved to Toronto's downtown core on Richmond Street. That year Rosen met Stann Burkhoff, an advertising executive, and Burkhoff agreed to do some ads for the store in exchange for two suits — one for him and one for his art director. Together, they developed the 'Ask Harry' campaign. These ads ran in Canada's national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. It was so successful that people from across the country began coming to Harry Rosen.

In 2016, Rosen was presented with a Fashion Visionary Award by Fashion Group International.

Rosen frequently appeared in store advertisements in partnership with The Globe and Mail. One ad features Rosen having just locked up his store for the evening, when he notices one of his window mannequins reading the Globe and Mail; Rosen is also carrying a copy in his arm while there is also one of the newspaper's vending boxes in the background of the street.

Upon spelling the name of Winnipeg wrong after opening the city's first store there, Rosen later took out an ad in the Winnipeg Free Press saying "I will not spell Winnipegger as "Winnippegger".

When the original main store was burned down, Rosen took out an ad which was almost mistaken for an Obituary.

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