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About Dominion Business Machines

Dominion Business Machines in one of Toronto’s oldest service companies.

Our Company Today

Dominion Business Machines offers excellence in every one of our core businesses: sales, rentals, service, and recycling. We have served a wide range of individuals, and companies in the GTA, many of whom have remained loyal for decades. We provide personal, friendly service, and a high degree of excellence, a combination that sets us apart from our competitors.


We have been voted ‘Best Office Equipment Company in Toronto’ by the Consumer’s Choice awards several times and during our more than 100 years in business, received many other awards. We have worked on a diverse group of products and projects, from the setup of home offices to the support of multi-seat networks. We are happy to be a part of your journey and provide excellent service to you or your company - contact us today.

Check out our YouTube channel!

jim

Jim  Sanderson 

Principal & Manager

Doug



Doug Sanderson

Principal & Manager

Our Company History

Dominion Business Machines is known as Canada’s oldest office equipment company. Established in 1902, it has been owned and operated by the Sanderson family throughout the twentieth century and has handled a wide assortment of information technology products.

Dominion Business Machines originated as Dominion Typewriter, an enterprise started by telegraph operator, J.J. Seitz who originally lived in Buffalo, New York. On a trip to New York City in the late 1890s, Seitz noticed some new Underwood Manual Typewriters and brought the first of these machines into Canada, Toronto in the late 1890s.

He then started The Underwood Typewriter Company of Canada, selling these machines that were hailed as remarkable labour-saving devices in much the same way as the personal computer was presented to people about eighty years later.

Seitz later hired Charles Sanderson to sell and to service these new machines. Eventually, he sold Charles the repair department of his fledgling Underwood organization, which soon became a separate company franchised to handle other manufacturers. Established in 1902, this was called The Dominion Typewriter Exchange.

Located in the heart of Toronto’s business district at 45 Adelaide Street East, it was moved in the 1930s to a nearby building on Victoria Street and in the 1950s, relocated by a son of J.C. Sanderson to 100 Adelaide Street East. In the years that followed the company became a sales leader for manufacturers such as Olympia, Olivetti, Remington, Smith Corona, Sharp, and IBM. It received national awards and accreditations as one of Toronto’s best-known business equipment stores.


As office equipment changed throughout the 20th century, Dominion Business Machines changed too, helping to introduce a variety of new machines, including:

  • Manual typewriters

  • Adding machines

  • Comptometers

  • Electric typewriters

  • Electronic calculators

  • Electronic typewriters

  • Fax machines

  • Desktop copiers

  • Personal computers

  • Printers

  • Portable computers

  • Laptop computers

  • Tablets

  • 3D printers

  • And other information technologies

In 1980, the company began selling personal computers. These systems, from manufacturers such as Commodore and Sanyo followed the design of the IBM PC and PC Junior. Typical specifications were 4 or 8 KB of RAM, a single-sided 360 KB 5 1/4″ floppy drive, keyboard, Microsoft DOS and WordStar software.


Today Dominion Business Machines is proud to continue serving many businesses located in the GTA.

Our Clients

We have been privileged to serve esteemed clients including major companies and institutions in Toronto, and notable visitors to the city. Our list of clients includes:

  • George H.W. Bush

  • William J. Clinton

  • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

  • Donald Trump

  • Henry Kissinger

  • The King and Queen of Sweden

  • The Princess of Japan

  • Toronto Blue Jays

  • Toronto Maple Leafs

  • Toronto Raptors

  • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centres

  • St. Michael’s Hospital

  • Toronto District School Board

  • Women’s College Hospital

  • The University of Toronto

  • York University

  • The Anglican Diocese of Canada

  • Durham Children’s Aid

  • The United Church of Canada

  • The Archdiocese of Toronto

  • The Bank of Nova Scotia

  • CIBC / CIBC Insurance

  • Toronto Dominion Bank/National Trust

  • TD Meloche Monnex

  • Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

  • Chum/City Television

  • Global Television

  • Bell Globemedia

  • Torstar Corporation

  • The City of Toronto

  • Elections Canada

  • Ontario Medical Association

  • The Canadian Armed Forces

  • The Salvation Army in Canada

  • Canadian National Railways

  • The Toronto Stock Exchange

We have also provided equipment to notable authors, artists and musicians including:

  • Sean Connery

  • Hunter S. Thompson

  • Ernest Hemingway

  • Mordecai Richler

  • Morley Callaghan

  • Gordon Lightfoot

  • Gordon Sinclair

  • Pierre Berton

Information

Dominion Business Machines

71 Vulcan Street

Toronto, Ontario, M9W 1L4

Phone: 416-364-2978

Email: info@dominionbusiness.ca

Service Area

Greater Toronto Area (GTA)

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