Loblaw Companies Limited (TSX: L) is the largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,690 supermarkets operating under a variety of regional banners, including the namesake Loblaws. Headquartered in Brampton, it is Canada's largest retailer with sales of more than $23 billion Canadian in 2002.
The company is also one of the largest employers in Canada with more than 130,000 full- and part-time employees. Employees at Loblaw, excluding management, are members of the United Food and Commercial Workers labor union. Loblaw encompasses 1,100 corporate and franchised stores, 800 associate stores and 9,000 independent stores.
Loblaw owns the private label brands President's Choice and No Name, with more than 5,000 products. The President's Choice, or PC brand, is innovative as it was amongst the first private labels to be marketed as a higher-quality product, as opposed to other stores' generic brands. Frequent print and television advertising is used to pitch new PC products.
The company provides financial services under the PC Financial name.
Loblaw's regional divisions include Westfair Foods Ltd. (western Canada), National Grocers (Ontario), and Atlantic Wholesalers Ltd. (Atlantic Canada).
Banners
Loblaw operates under a number of different regional banners throughout Canada, including the following. While most of these banners are not likely to be abandoned in the near future, the company's current focus in on developing the large-format Real Canadian Superstore banner - which is gradually replacing some Loblaws and Zehrs locations in Ontario - as a national rival to Wal-Mart.
- Large format / hypermarket:
- Medium to large format:
- Atlantic Superstore (Maritimes)
- Dominion Stores (Newfoundland and Labrador)
- Extra Foods (Western Canada)
- Loblaws (Toronto and area, London, southeastern Ontario (including Ottawa), and Quebec)
- Zehrs (southwestern Ontario excluding London)
- Franchised:
- Fortinos (Hamilton, Ontario and some Toronto suburbs)
- Your Independent Grocer (Ottawa area and northern Ontario)
- Small to medium format:
- Atlantic SuperValu (Atlantic Canada)
- Valu-mart (southern Ontario; franchised)
- Provigo (Quebec)
- SuperValu (Western Canada)
- Small format:
- Wholesale / Cash and carry:
- Atlantic Cash & Carry (Atlantic Canada)
- Club Entrepôt Provigo (Quebec)
- The Real Canadian Wholesale Club (Ontario and Western Canada)
History
Loblaw was started in 1919 by Theodore 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 Limited 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.
Loblaws was known in the United States primarily for its National Supermarkets chain that operated in Missouri, Illinois and Louisiana. Originally purchased from the National Tea Company, National Supermarkets were a major supermarket chain in the St. Louis, Missouri area until the 1995 sellout to Schnucks Markets.
Loblaw has started to bring its Real Canadian Superstore banner to Ontario. 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 branded as Superstores. Analysts say that Loblaw made this decision in reaction to the threat of Wal-Mart potentially opening supercentres in Canada. While several locations are now open, the most high-profile Real Canadian Superstore ___location will be in Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
The first Valu-Mart was in Clinton, Ontario and still exists today.
Corporate governance
Current members of the board of directors of Loblaw Companies Limited are: John Cassaday, Camilla Dalglish, Robert Dart, Anthony Fell, Anne Fraser, Anthony Graham, John Lederer, Pierre Michaud, Thomas O'Neill, G. Joseph Reddington, T. Iain Ronald, Galen Weston (chairman), and Joseph Wright.