CENTURY 21 Briscoe Estates closes the chapter on an era of brand history

April 2025, Pickering, Ontario – A piece of CENTURY 21 Canada history comes to a close as CENTURY 21 Briscoe Estates officially closes its doors. Briscoe Estates first opened its doors in June 1977, and holds the distinction of being the first brokerage with the then fledging brand in Eastern Canada. Agents are transferring to CENTURY 21 Percy Fulton—another legacy franchise within the organization.

Anne Briscoe had been a real estate agent for a few years when her broker at the time sent her an article about the recent growth of the Century 21 brand. “They had some of the best training I’d ever seen,” she recalls, “they were doing well in Canada, and what interested me the most were the connections that came with franchising, it wasn’t something I’d had before. With the advertising help that they provided, it wasn’t hard for me to join!”

Ann climbed on board the ship that Founder U. Gary Charlwood, currently the Executive Chairman of CENTURY 21 Canada, was steering across the country. After a successful ten years with the brand, her husband decided to join the endeavour.

“We were attending one of the brand’s national conferences,” says Dick Briscoe, reflecting on his decades alongside his wife. “After seeing one of the speakers, I decided I had to get into real estate as well and since then we’ve had some great years and made some great memories with CENTURY 21 Canada.”

Anne’s first impression of U. Gary and his leadership team never wavered over the decades. “They were all wonderful people, knowledgeable about the industry, friendly to their network and knew their franchisees in and out.”

CENTURY 21 Briscoe Estates has served their community out of three offices with 360 salespeople. “We offered twice a week training and that brought in some really good people. But as the market changed in recent years, we decided to step back and let the company get smaller.”

The Briscoes passed the ownership of the company to their son, Rick a few years ago, and this year the time came for him to close the doors on the brokerage. “It’s such a different market now and the time was right,” he explains. “My priority is being in a strong selling position while we wait for the market to adjust closer to normal levels.”

CENTURY 21 Briscoes Estates operated in Pickering, Ajax and Highland Creek, ON. CENTURY 21 Canada will be celebrating the 50^th anniversary of their brand next year.