Sobeys facts for kids
 |
|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1907 Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Founder | John W. Sobey |
| Headquarters | Stellarton, Nova Scotia |
|
Key people
|
Michael Medline (president & CEO) |
| Products | Bakery, dairy, delicatessen, frozen foods, general grocery, meat and poultry, produce, seafood, and snacks. |
|
Number of employees
|
123,000 (2019) |
| Parent | Empire Company |
| Subsidiaries |
|
Sobeys Inc. is a big grocery store chain across Canada. It has more than 1,500 stores under different names. The company's main office is in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Sobeys has stores in all ten Canadian provinces. In 2019, its sales were over C$25.1 billion. Sobeys is owned by Empire Company Limited, which is a large Canadian business group.
Sobeys also follows a special rule called the Scanner Price Accuracy Code. This code helps make sure that prices at the checkout are correct.
Contents
The Story of Sobeys
Sobeys started in 1907 in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. It was founded by John W. Sobey, who used to be a carpenter. At first, it was just a business that delivered meat.
Growing the Business
In 1921, John's son, Frank H. Sobey, joined the company. He helped open six new grocery stores in the Pictou County and Antigonish County areas. By 1946, Sobeys opened its first supermarket in New Glasgow. This happened after they bought another store's operations. Frank Sobey became the first president of J. W. Sobey Stores Limited. By 1977, Sobeys had 65 store locations.
The company grew throughout Atlantic Canada. For much of the late 1900s, it was the biggest grocery store in that region. In the 1980s, Sobeys expanded into southern Ontario. This created a big competition with another grocery chain called Loblaws.
Big Changes and Purchases
Sobeys used to own parts of other grocery companies in the United States. In 1998, Sobeys became the second-largest grocery company in Canada. This happened after they bought the Oshawa Group. The Oshawa Group owned the IGA stores across Canada. They also owned other regional stores and food service companies.
In 2002, Sobeys changed how its stores looked and how they served customers. They called this new plan "Ready to serve." This was an effort to be more like successful stores in the United States.
In 2005, Sobeys tried to buy another grocery chain called A&P Canada. However, they lost the bid to a company called Metro. Even though Sobeys offered more money, the deal went to Metro.
More Stores Join Sobeys
In 2007, Sobeys offered to buy the Thrifty Foods chain in British Columbia. This deal was worth $253 million.
In 2011, Sobeys' wholesale part made a deal with Target. Sobeys would supply food to Target's Canadian stores. In 2012, Sobeys bought 236 Shell gas stations in Quebec and Atlantic Canada.
In 2013, Sobeys announced a huge purchase. They bought Safeway's Canadian stores for $5.8 billion. This added 214 Safeway locations, mostly in Western Canada, to Sobeys' business. To make sure there was fair competition, Sobeys had to sell 29 of its stores. These stores were sold to other companies.
In 2014, Sobeys announced they would close 50 stores that were not doing well. Most of these were in Western Canada. In 2015, Sobeys also bought some parts of Co-op Atlantic.
Challenges and New Ideas
In 2016, the CEO of Empire Company, Marc Poulin, left the company. Sobeys had reported a big loss of $942.6 million. This was because it was hard to combine the Safeway stores into Sobeys' operations. Some changes, like stopping a popular loyalty program, also affected customer loyalty.
In 2018, Sobeys made a deal with a company called Ocado. They planned to open a special online grocery center in Toronto by late 2020. This center would use robots to put together online orders.
Also in 2018, Sobeys closed 10 more stores that were not doing well in British Columbia. Some of these stores later reopened as FreshCo. By 2019, Sobeys announced they would stop using plastic grocery bags. They planned to switch to paper bags in all their stores by the end of 2020.
In September 2023, David Sobey, who used to be a chief executive and chair of Sobeys, passed away at 92.
Sobeys' Own Brands
Sobeys has its own brands of products, which are often called "private label" brands. These brands have changed names over the years.
At first, they were just called "Sobeys." Then, in the late 1990s, they were renamed "Our Best." After Sobeys bought the Oshawa Group, they started using Oshawa's "Our Compliments" brand.
In 2005, the name was shortened to "Compliments." Sobeys also added many more products to this brand. From 2007 to 2010, they had "Compliments Junior" products for children. These were made with The Walt Disney Company.
For lower-priced products, Sobeys used the "Signal" brand in the 1990s. Later, they used "Smart Choice" and then "Compliments Value."
In Atlantic Canada, Sobeys' own brand of soft drinks is called "Big 8." In other parts of Canada, soft drinks are sold under the "Compliments" brand.
Different Store Names (Banners)
Sobeys operates many grocery stores under different names, or "banners." Here are some of the main ones:
IGA Stores
IGA and IGA Extra are the main Sobeys store names in Quebec. There are also 35 Sobeys-owned IGA stores in Western Canada. Some IGA stores are also in New Brunswick.
When Sobeys bought the Oshawa Group, another company, Loblaws, bought all the IGA stores in Atlantic Canada. Loblaws then changed these stores to their own names.
Safeway Stores
In June 2013, Sobeys bought Safeway's Canadian stores. This was a very large purchase.
Foodland Stores
_-_Hagersville,_ON.jpg)
Sobeys runs smaller grocery stores called Foodland. These are mostly in rural areas of Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario. Sobeys also has other small grocery stores called Tradition Markets in Quebec and Food Town in Western Canada.
Thrifty Foods Stores
Sobeys operates Thrifty Foods, which is a chain of 26 grocery stores. These stores are based in Victoria, British Columbia, and they also offer online grocery shopping.
FreshCo and Chalo FreshCo Stores
In 2010, Sobeys launched FreshCo, which is a discount grocery store. The first FreshCo stores were old Price Chopper stores in Southern Ontario. FreshCo stores are owned by independent people who run them like a franchise.
In April 2019, FreshCo opened stores in Western Canada. This included three stores in British Columbia and two in Winnipeg. They also opened two Chalo! FreshCo stores in British Columbia. Chalo! FreshCo stores are designed for areas with many South Asian Canadian communities.
Sobeys Urban Fresh Stores
In 2008, a special Sobeys Urban Fresh store opened in downtown Edmonton. It was designed for city living. However, it closed in 2014 because it was not making enough money.
Sobeys Extra Stores
In November 2013, Sobeys opened its first "Sobeys Extra" store in Burlington, Ontario. These stores are larger and have more features.
Other Businesses Sobeys Owns
Sobeys also owns other types of businesses. These include the Needs, Sobeys Express, and BoniChoix convenience store chains. They also own the Lawtons drug store chain in Atlantic Canada.
The company also has a wholesale food distribution business called TRA Atlantic. This business delivers products to stores like convenience stores and gas stations. TRA also runs the Kwik-Way and Clover Farm convenience store chains.
Some Sobeys stores have a separate store called Griffins that sells tobacco products. This is because of laws that stop stores with pharmacies from selling tobacco. Many Sobeys and Needs stores in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick also have a gas station called Sobeys Fast Fuel.
Sobeys Express stores (called IGA Express in Quebec) sell fresh produce and ready-to-eat meals. They also have items usually found in convenience stores. Some of these are part of Sobeys-operated Shell gas stations.
In September 2018, Empire Co. Ltd., Sobeys' parent company, announced it would buy Farm Boy. Farm Boy is an Ontario chain of 26 supermarkets. Farm Boy continues to operate as a separate company. This allows Farm Boy to open more stores, especially in the Toronto area.
Loyalty Programs
Loyalty programs let customers earn points or rewards when they shop. Sobeys has used different loyalty programs over the years.
Air Miles Program
As of mid-August 2022, Sobeys and its stores in Quebec, Ontario, and Western Canada used the Air Miles loyalty program. With this program, customers earned one mile for every $20 spent. They could then use 95 miles to get $10 off their purchases.
Sobeys expanded its Air Miles program to Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario in September 2014. This replaced their older Club Sobeys program in those areas. In early 2015, Air Miles also came to Sobeys stores in Ontario, replacing Club Sobeys there too.
Club Sobeys Program
Club Sobeys was Sobeys' own loyalty program. It was used in Atlantic Canada in the 1990s. Later, as Sobeys grew, they brought Club Sobeys to Ontario and Western Canada. In British Columbia, it was called Club Thrifty Foods.
Club Sobeys also had a credit card. These credit card accounts later moved to the Bank of Montreal. All Club Sobeys credit cards were changed to Air Miles credit cards after Sobeys switched to Air Miles.
Scene+ Program
In June 2022, Empire Company announced a big change. They decided to stop using Air Miles and switch to the Scene+ program. Scene+ is owned by Cineplex Entertainment and Scotiabank. Empire Company also became a part-owner of Scene+.
The change to Scene+ started in Atlantic Canada in August 2022. It then rolled out across Canada, including Quebec (IGA), Ontario, and Western Canada, through late 2022 and early 2023.
Online Grocery Shopping
In January 2018, Sobeys made a deal with a British company called Ocado. Ocado provides technology that uses robots to put together customer orders for online groceries.
The CEO of Empire and Sobeys, Michael Medline, said that this online grocery business would take time to become profitable. A reporter described a similar system where robots move on a grid to pick and pack orders very quickly. These robots can process many orders each week and communicate to avoid bumping into each other.
Ocado's technology also helps guide the delivery vans. Sobeys launched its own online grocery service called Voilà in June 2020.
Helping the Community
Sobeys is a national partner of Special Olympics Canada. This means they help support athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Where Sobeys Stores Are Located
Sobeys' main office is in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. They also have 27 distribution centers across Canada.
Sobeys stores are located all over Canada. For example, there are 54 stores in Alberta, 1 in British Columbia, 17 in Manitoba, 23 in New Brunswick, 14 in Newfoundland and Labrador, 42 in Nova Scotia, 90 in Ontario, 5 in Prince Edward Island, and 10 in Saskatchewan.
Empire Company
The Sobeys group of companies is owned by Empire Company Limited. The Sobey family controls this company. Empire Company also used to own the Empire Theatres cinema chain. This was Canada's second-largest movie theater chain until 2013. Empire also owns many commercial buildings through another company called Crombie REIT.
See also
- List of supermarket chains in Canada
