- Dominion (supermarket)
-
Dominion Stores Ltd. 
Former type Division Industry Supermarket Fate Rebranded as Metro Founded Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1919 Defunct December 2008 Headquarters Ontario, Canada Key people J. William Pentland, Robert Jackson - co-founders Products Master Choice products; dairy, frozen foods, grocery, general merchandise (non-food), meat/deli, pharmacy, produce, snacks Parent Metro Inc. Website www.metro.ca Dominion Stores was once a national chain of supermarkets in Canada, which was still known as the Dominion of Canada at the time of the company's founding. The chain was founded in 1919 in Ontario and was later acquired by Conrad Black's Argus Corporation. It was later sold to The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P), which ultimately restricted the chain to the Greater Toronto Area, with stores outside Ontario sold to third parties. A&P's Canadian division was later acquired by Metro Inc., which rebranded the remaining Dominion stores to its namesake banner in 2008.
Contents
History
Dominion store started from one Toronto store on May 23, 1919. The store was founded by American businessmen Robert Jackson of New Hampshire and William J. Pentland of Connecticut.[1] Pentland was manager of A&P stores in Connecticut and was hired by Jackson. By the end of 1919 they had a 20 store chain with 18 acquired from rival Loblaws and 61 stores a year later.[1] In 1929 it tried to acquire a stake in Loblaws, but the stock market crashed ended the growth.
During the Depression, Dominion lost both founders. Jackson went bankrupt and Pentland was killed in an auto accident in 1933.[1]
Dominon's leadership was not resolved until 1939, when J. William Horsey became President. He in turn sold Dominion to Argus Corporation. Smaller stores were consolidated from 574 to 195 by 1954.[1] In the 1950s, Dominion began to build large stores with airy ceilings and large glass fronts.[2] The chain also expanded beyond Toronto to other parts of Ontario, Québec and Newfoundland.
Competition in the 1970s forced the chain to discount and would lead to the collapse in the 1980s.[1]
Breakup
Dominion Stores had been acquired by A&P's Canadian division, A&P Canada, from Argus in 1985. A&P subsequently rebranded all its stores in the Greater Toronto Area as Dominion stores (absorbing Miracle Food Mart), while Dominion locations elsewhere in Southern Ontario took the A&P name.
The territory of Dominion stores as compared to that of other stores owned by A&P, and later Metro, was approximately the following: the City of Toronto; York Region, excluding Stouffville; the Cities of Mississauga and Oakville; and the Cities of Pickering and Ajax.
In northwestern Ontario, Safeway acquired at least two stores in Thunder Bay. (Incidentally, it is Safeway's presence in Thunder Bay which prevents Metro from offering Air Miles at its Thunder Bay locations.)
In Western Canada, Dominion stores were simply closed, leaving many suburban shopping malls scrambling to fill large, now-vacant sections. This event, coupled with the subsequent collapse of several department store chains, sparked a wave of mall renovations in many parts of the country.[citation needed] Alberta stores went to Safeway in the late 1960s.
The remainder of the chain in eastern Canada was ultimately acquired by Loblaw Companies, albeit through several unrelated transactions:
- Newfoundland: Dominion stores in Newfoundland were sold to local owners, who then resold them to Loblaw in 1995. The Newfoundland locations are the only ones to continue under the Dominion banner to this day; see Dominion Stores (Newfoundland).
- New Brunswick: Shortly after the A&P acquisition, these stores were sold to Food Group Inc., which operated them under the Village banner until they themselves were sold to Loblaw and merged into its Atlantic Superstore unit in 1995.
- Nova Scotia: These locations were sold to Oshawa Group and became IGA stores. However, after Sobeys purchased Oshawa in 1999, Loblaw took over IGA's Atlantic Canada locations due to competitive concerns.
- Quebec: Dominion stores in Quebec had been sold to Provigo in 1983; Provigo was itself acquired by Loblaw in 1998.
Recent history and demise
Exterior of a typical Dominion store (at Don Mills Centre in Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario), prior to rebranding as Metro in late 2008
Metro, which previously operated solely in Quebec and the Ottawa area, acquired A&P Canada from the U.S.-based parent company effective August 15, 2005. A&P initially retained a minority ownership share of the combined company.
On August 7, 2008, Metro announced it would invest $200 million consolidating the company's conventional food stores under the Metro banner. Over a period of 15 months, all stores were to be converted to the Metro name, beginning with the Dominion stores in the Toronto area.[3]
Dominion's distribution centres were located in Toronto and Mississauga retained the old Dominion banner until 2009.
Slogans
- "Mainly because of the meat"
- "We're Fresh Obsessed"
- "There's a definite difference at Dominion"
- "We do that little bit more"
Stores
List of stores in the Ontario:
Greater Toronto Area:
- 174 Wallace Avenue - first store
- 779 Queen Street East - second store
- City Hall Market on Queen Street West - discontinued 1960s
- 614 Rogers Road near Keele Street - site now a mall and Value Village store
- York Mills and Bayview -> opened 1952 as Dominion Market
- 1277 York Mills Road -> converted to Food Basics
- Finch Avenue East and Leslie Street - Sunny Supermarket
- College Square at Yonge and College
- Thornhill Square (Bayview & John) -> converted to Food Basics
- Don Mills Shopping Centre at Lawrence Avenue East and Don Mills Road
- Kennedy Commons at Kennedy Road and Highway 401
- Markington Square at Markham Road and Eglinton Avenue East
- Lawrence & Keele
- Lawrence & Bathurst
- Wilson & Keele
- Yonge & Church
- The Villages of Abbey Lane (Rylander Blvd.) -> now a Shoppers Drug Mart
- Sheppard & Bathurst
- Yonge & Sheppard -> converted to Metro, now demolished
- Woodside Square, McCowan Rd. and Finch Ave. E., converted to a Dominion Save-A-Centre (before Dominion's demise), now a Food Basics in another part of the mall
- Kipling Avenue at Westway -> now Food Basics
- Islington Avenue and Rexdale Boulevard (Rexdale Plaza) -> demolished
- 89 Gould Street, Toronto
- Ajax, Ajax Market Place -> converted to Metro, now Food Basics
- Aurora, Aurora Village
- Burlington, Appleby Mall -> became a Mr. Grocer, then Fortino's
- Burlington, Burlington Mall (777 Guelph Line)
- Mississauga, Applewood Village Plaza
- Mississauga, Clarkson Crossing
- Mississauga, Derry & 10th Line
- Mississauga, Iona Square
- Mississauga, Lakeshore Plaza
- Mississauga, Meadowvale Town Centre
- Mississauga, Roseborough Centre
- Mississauga, Sheridan Place
- Mississauga, Westdale Mall -> converted to Metro, now closed
- Newmarket, Yonge & Mulock
- Newmarket, Dominion Plus Centre
- Newmarket, 404 Town Centre
- Oakville, Hopedale Mall
- Oakville, Oakville Town Centre I
- Oakville, Rio Can Centre (Dundas/Neyagawa)
- Oakville, Trafalgar Mall -> became A&P, converted to Food Basics, now closed
- Oakville, Upper Oakville Shopping Centre
- Pickering, Amberlea Shopping Centre
Head offices
- 174 Wallace Avenue 1919-1924 - residential development
- Soho and Phoebe Street 1924-1945 - old Weston Bakeryl; now residential neighbourhood Soho Square
- Rogers Road and Keele 1945-1970s - old York Arsenal; now Value Village store
- The West Mall 1970s-2008; now Metro Distribution Centre
Key people
- J. William Pentland - co-founder
- Robert Jackson - co-founder
- J. William Horsey - President
- John A. McDougald - financier and controlling interest in 1940s to 1970s
- E.P. Taylor
- Conrad Black
See also
- List of Canadian supermarkets
- Metro Inc.
- A&P Canada
- Hart v Dominion Stores and Coca Cola Ltd. 1968 1 O.R. 775: Customer injured by flying glass from exploding bottle.
References
- ^ a b c d e Bradburn, Jamie (April 17, 2010). "Historicist: Mainly Because of the Meat and More". Torontoist. http://torontoist.com/2010/04/historicist_mainly_because_of_the_meat_and_more.php. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
- ^ Bradburn, Jamie (July 3, 2007). "Vintage Toronto Ad: Space-Age Grocery Shopping". Torontoist. http://torontoist.com/2007/07/vintage_toronto_21.php. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
- ^ "Metro to dump A&P, Dominion names". CBC.ca. 7 August 2008. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2008/08/07/metro.html. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
- Dominion Stores: The First Sixty Years 1919-1979, Paul Nanton, Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company, 1979
- Dominion: Sixty Years of Dependability, Ted Wood, Toronto: Dominion Stores, 1979
External links
Supermarket Chains in Canada Jim Pattison Group Loblaw Companies Atlantic Superstore • Dominion • Extra Foods • Fortinos • Freshmart • Loblaws • Loblaw Superstore • Maxi • No Frills • Provigo • Real Canadian Superstore • Real Canadian Wholesale Club • SaveEasy • SuperValu • T&T • Valu-mart • Your Independent Grocer • ZehrsMetro Inc. Sobeys Other National Chains Regional Chains Calgary Co-op • Choices Market • Co-op Atlantic • Farm Boy • Foodex • Galati Market Fresh • H Mart • Longo's • Marché Frais • MarketPlace IGA (in British Columbia) • Northern/Northmart • Rabba • Whole Foods MarketDefunct Banners A&P • Commisso's Food Markets • Dominion • Food City • Galati Brothers • Héritage • Sav-A-Centre • Knob Hill Farms • Loeb • Miracle Food Mart • Steinberg's • Super Centre • Ultra Food & Drug • Village Food StoresCategories:- Metro Inc.
- Defunct supermarkets of Canada
- Companies established in 1919
- Companies based in Toronto
- Companies disestablished in 2008
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