A&P Canada
Encyclopedia
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
company from 1927 to 2009.
In 1927, A&P opened its first stores in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. By 1929, A&P was present in 200 communities in Ontario and Quebec.
A&P Canada left the Quebec market in 1984, and in 1985 acquired Dominion Stores
Dominion Stores (Ontario)
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...
in Ontario. It acquired Miracle Food Mart
Miracle Food Mart
Miracle Food Mart was a supermarket chain in Ontario, Canada, owned by Steinberg's, a Quebec-based retailer in the 1970s and 1980s.Steinberg purchased the Grand Union chain of 38 stores in June 1959 to make its entrance into the Ontario market. These stores operated unter the Steinberg banner until...
and Ultra Food Mart in 1989.
In 1995, it acquired the Barn Markets, based in Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, and opened its first discount grocery store, Food Basics
Food Basics
Food Basics is a discount Canadian supermarket chain owned by Metro Inc. and with all stores within Ontario. It was created by A&P Canada to compete with the successful No Frills warehouse-style supermarket operated by Loblaw Companies...
.
In 2005, A&P Canada Co. operated 135 stores under the Dominion, A&P, Ultra Food & Drug and the Barn Markets banners, and 101 Food Basics stores. It employed over 30,000 employees in Ontario.
On July 19, 2005, Metro Inc. announced that it had reached an agreement with the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. and its subsidiary, A&P Luxembourg S.à.r.l., to acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of A&P Canada, for an acquisition price of $1.7 billion, consisting of $1.2 billion in cash and $500 million in the form of treasury shares of Metro. The sale was completed on August 15, 2005.
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 Dominion, A&P, Loeb
Loeb (supermarket)
Loeb was a Canadian supermarket chain in Eastern Ontario. It is owned by Quebec's Metro chain of grocery stores. It was once Ottawa's second-largest supermarket chain behind Loblaws. Each of the stores averaged in size...
, the Barn and Ultra banners were converted to the Metro name. Food Basics stores will not be affected because they compete in the discount food segment.
See also
- Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (former parent company)
- List of Canadian supermarkets
- Metro Inc.