a century of trust.
For more than a hundred years, one family's commitment to hard work and hometown values has shaped the way Cape Breton shops for its homes.
Visit a Showroom
1922
Founded in New Waterford, NS
4
Locations across Cape Breton
50+
Employees today
we make it easy.
Furnishing a home is a big decision, and at Schwartz Furniture we believe it should never feel overwhelming. From the moment you walk into our Sydney showroom, the largest of its kind in Cape Breton, our team has already done the hard work of pairing sofas with the right rugs, lamps, and accent pieces so you can picture the finished room before you ever buy a thing.
Whether you're shopping for a new mattress, a kitchen appliance, or a full living room set, our sales staff are trained to guide you toward what actually fits your space, your style, and your budget, with trusted brands you already know standing behind every purchase.
100+ years of family ownership.
from a small storefront to a Cape Breton institution
1922
It started in 1922, when Rose and Abraham Schwartz opened the doors of Schwartz & Company in New Waterford, Nova Scotia.
1932
Just a decade later, tragedy and hardship tested the young business: Rose, recently widowed and pregnant, found herself at the helm during the depths of the Great Depression. She held the company together through sheer determination and an unwavering kindness toward her customers, qualities that would go on to define the Schwartz name for generations.
1947
When her son Irving took over in 1947, he carried that same foundation forward.
1956–1978
In the decades that followed, Irving transformed a single storefront into a Maritime institution, opening new showrooms in Sydney, Port Hastings, Glace Bay, and New Glasgow.
1991
By 1991, the Schwartz footprint had grown to eleven locations across the region, and Irving's ambitions had expanded well beyond furniture into real estate, hospitality, and travel.
1993–2010
In 1993, Brian Purchase joined as CFO, and the partnership he built with Irving over the next two decades ensured that when Irving passed away in 2010, the business he and his mother had built stayed exactly where it belonged: in trusted, local hands.
2017–Today
Today, Brian Purchase carries the Schwartz legacy into its second century. The company now operates four showrooms across Cape Breton and employs more than fifty people. The name on the sign may represent a much larger business than Rose could have imagined in 1922, but the promise behind it hasn't moved an inch.
rooted in cape breton, invested in community.
A hundred years in business isn't just measured in storefronts, it's measured in the relationships built along the way. That small-town, customer-first spirit that Rose instilled from day one still guides how Schwartz Furniture shows up for Cape Breton, and Brian Purchase carries that torch personally — through his Golf for Dad tournament, he has helped raise more than $140,000 for Prostate Cancer Awareness, work that earned him recognition as a Breakfast Hero for Prostate Cancer Awareness in 2013.
"After losing my business partner and friend to cancer, I know first-hand how important accessing cancer care in Cape Breton truly is."
— Brian Purchase, Schwartz Furniture
experience a century of "making it easy".
A century of trust doesn't happen by accident, it happens one customer, one home, and one generation at a time. Come see what a hundred years of "making it easy" looks like in person.