# Origin of Winfred-Louder store name: Canadian PM?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-winfred-louder-store-name-canadian-pm/112278>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [June 4, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-winfred-louder-store-name-canadian-pm/112278 "2002-06-04T00:36:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dqa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dqa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dqa)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-winfred-louder-store-name-canadian-pm/112278/1 "2002-06-04T00:36:10Z")

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I was reading about the current state of affairs in Ottawa, when the name of former prime minister Wilfred Laurier jumped out at me, oddly familiar. Then I realized, it’s awfully similar to the department store on Drew Carey. Not a perfect match, but Winfred-Louder is a pretty strange name to come up with out of the blue.

Does anyone know if there’s anything to this?

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-winfred-louder-store-name-canadian-pm/112278/2 "2002-06-04T15:55:32Z")

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I’m pretty sure this is a parody of a department chain store named Woodward and Lothrop. Even the logo’s the same! They went out of business years ago. I don’t know if this chain ever had any stores outside of Maryland, but I’m willing to bet there were at least a few stores in Cincinatti Ohio.