Loblaws Inc. is a Canadian

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

chain with stores located in the provinces of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

and

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. Headquartered in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

, Ontario, Loblaws is a subsidiary of

Loblaw Companies Limited Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners (including Loblaws), as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private ...

, Canada's largest food distributor.

History

Loblaw Groceterias was founded by

Theodore Loblaw Theodore Pringle Loblaw (July 1, 1872 – April 2, 1933) was a Canadian grocer. Loblaw founded the Loblaws chain of grocery stores, which is now a nationwide retail empire. Biography Loblaw was born in Elmgrove, northeast of Alliston, the so ...

and John Milton Cork in 1919. Loblaw opened the first Canadian self-service grocery store in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in June 1919. During the 1920s the company grew throughout Ontario. By the 1930s it had 107 stores in Ontario and 50 in

New York state New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

. In 1947, Garfield Weston struck a deal to acquire a block of 100,000 shares of Loblaw Groceterias Co. Limited, which had become one of the country's leading supermarket chains. By 1953, George Weston Limited had established majority control. Loblaws stores used to operate across Canada until the early 1960s when most locations in western Canada were

rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

as SuperValu, and later as

Real Canadian Superstore Real Canadian Superstore is a chain of supermarkets owned by Canadian food retailing giant Loblaw Companies. Its name is often shortened to Superstore, or, less commonly, RCSS. Originating in Western Canada in the late 1970s/early 1980s, the b ...

. Retail sales and earnings were in decline in the 1970s as Loblaws' aging chain of supermarkets looked increasingly uncompetitive. The company initiated a broad marketing strategy that saw a prototype store renovated and remodelled in new colours and a new Loblaws logo. In the mid-1970s stores in the United States were sold to Bells Markets; however some Loblaws stores in northwestern Pennsylvania continued operation into the early 1990s. In 1996, in addition to revitalizing the look of its stores, Loblaw management earmarked $40 million for the development of its in-house, private label program.

Super Centre

Super Centre was a hyper supermarket banner used by Loblaws during the 1990s in Ontario. Some stores were an expansion from the Super-Valu banner. These stores were larger than standard supermarkets (Each of the stores are about 60,000 to 120,000 square feet (5,000 to 10,000 m²) in size on average) and sold a wider selection of merchandise and included pharmacies and department store merchandise. The initial concept was successful, but many of their locations failed as competition grew. The concept was abandoned by the late 1990s with locations being downsized, re-branded as Loblaws stores and sold altogether. The brand survived in

Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

Atlantic Superstore Atlantic Superstore is a Canadian supermarket chain. The chain operates 54 stores in the Maritimes of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. It is owned by George Weston Limited through Loblaw Companies Limited, and operates und ...

and re-emerged later as

21st century

Loblaws in Heartland Town Centre interior 2021

Beginning in 2008, some new and renovated Loblaws stores were given a new store format and were named "Loblaw Great Food", dropping the red-orange curved-L logo. Stores under this banner are also subject to slightly different collective-agreement terms with the United Food and Commercial Workers, the

union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

representing Loblaw employees. The chain's location on the site of the former Maple Leaf Gardens in

, opened in late 2011, is promoted as simply Loblaws and uses the familiar "L" logo, but is officially named "''Loblaws'' Great Food", indicating that similar terms are in place at that store. On July 19, 2013, Loblaws introduced their new concept "Loblaws CityMarket" in British Columbia (in North Vancouver, Richmond and Vancouver). Loblaws CityMarkets are now operational in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. On July 23, 2015, Loblaws announced the planned closure of 52 non-profitable stores over the following year. LoblawsYongeAndBernard2

In December 2017, Loblaws and George Weston Limited disclosed to the

Competition Bureau The Competition Bureau (french: Bureau de la concurrence) is the competition regulator in Canada. It is an independent Canadian law enforcement agency that ensures that markets operate in a competitive, innovative manner. Headed by the Comm ...

that it had arranged to fix the price of bread from 2000 to 2014. In response, the chain offered a $25 gift card to Canadian customers as a gesture of goodwill, but was met with public backlash over its restrictions and lack of remorse.

Programs

Loblaws offers a grocery pickup service called PC Express where customers can order groceries online and select a time slot to pick up their orders. The rewards program used at Loblaws is PC Optimum which allows customers to accumulate points from purchases of certain items to be used in increments of ten dollars on purchases. It is a participant in the voluntary

Scanner Price Accuracy Code The Scanner Price Accuracy Code is a Canadian retail voluntary practice managed by the Retail Council of Canada and endorsed by the Competition Bureau. It was introduced in June 2002 as Canadian retailers were in the midst of updating their point- ...

managed by the

Retail Council of Canada The Retail Council of Canada (french: Conseil canadien du commerce de détail), founded in 1963, is a not-for-profit trade association representing retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, ...

References

External links