Thrifty's branding also really talks up their Canadian roots, which seems a little strange since it doesn't seem like there are all that many international grocery chains operating in their limited area (Vancouver Island and the Vancouver metro area). I wonder if they had Safeway in mind with this, since they were once fairly big in BC -- which would be ironic, seeing as they're both parts of the same company now!
Walmart Supercenters are pretty big in Canada, but I can't say for sure whether this area would have any Walmarts nearby. I did go to a Walmart in a small-town in Alberta in 2018 and it was nicer, but smaller, than US Walmarts of the time. Outside of that, I suspect Loblaw is the major competitor in Canada and they are certainly Canadian. There's a story in Loblaw's history on Wikipedia that the founders had traveled to a Piggly Wiggly in Memphis to see how the self-serving grocery store worked. I guess the Canadian supermarket giant was inspired by Memphis' supermarket scene! Retail Retell will probably like that story.
ReplyDeleteI can't say I know anything about Thrifty Foods so this will be an interesting series for me. Most of my supermarket visits in Canada, especially in the east, were at places affiliated with Loblaw.
Wow, that's pretty cool!
DeleteSimilar to Seattle, it doesn't seem like Walmart is all that big in the Vancouver area, but that and Costco are the only two other non-Canadian chains I can think of.
DeleteIn Vancouver, the biggest competitor to Sobeys in terms of typical grocery stores seems to be Save-On-Foods, which is owned by the Jim Pattison Group (a Vancouver company that owns practically everything in that area, it sometimes feels like). Loblaw has quite a few stores too, but almost all are Shoppers Drug Mart or Real Canadian Superstore, rather than typical grocery stores. (And apparently they also own T&T, which is a very large Asian grocery chain in the Vancouver region -- it's sure interesting how many different parts of the retail industry Loblaw is involved in, compared to similar US companies that tend to stick to one market segment!)