Loblaw Companies Limited
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Loblaw Companies Limited is the largest food retailer in Canada, with over 10,900 supermarkets operating under a variety of names including:
- Atlantic Superstore,
- Atlantic SuperValu,
- SaveEasy,
- Dominion-Superstores,
- Extra Foods,
- Maxi,
- Provigo,
- Fortinos,
- Loblaws,
- No Frills,
- Real Canadian Superstore,
- Valu-Mart,
- Your Independent Grocer, and
- Zehrs.
Loblaw owns the private label brands President's Choice and No Name, with more than 5,000 products. The company provides financial services under the PC Financial name.
Loblaw, headquartered in Toronto, is also Canada's largest retailer with sales of more than $23 billion Canadian in 2002. The company is one of the largest employers in Canada with more than 122,000 full- and part-time employees. Loblaw encompasses 1,100 coporate and franchised stores, 800 associate stores and 9,000 independent stores.
Loblaw was started in 1919 by T.P. Loblaw and Justin Cork at the beginning of the "supermarket" revolution. During the 1930s, it grew to become a chain of more than 80 stores.
In 1947, George Weston, Ltd. acquired a controlling interest in the company, which became Canada's largest grocery retailer and the third largest in North America.
Loblaw Companies Limited was incorporated in 1956, and throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it introduced its private label brands.
From 1961 to 1971, it operated a discount department store, Sayvette.
Since early 2003, it has been said that Loblaw will bring its Real Canadian Superstore banner to Ontario later in the year. The 13,000 m2 (140,000 ft2) stores are well known in Western Canada, with food and general merchandise offerings. Many of these new stores were originally going to be large Loblaws Market or Zehrs Market stores but now will instead be The Real Canadian Superstore. Analysts say that Loblaw made this decision in reaction to the threat of Wal-Mart potentially opening supercentres in Canada.
External links
- Loblaw Companies Limited (http://www.loblaw.com/)