Empire Company Limited is a Canadian

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...

 holding company based in Stellarton

Stellarton, Nova Scotia

-External links:*...

, Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

.

Controlled by the Sobey family, Empire is sole owner of the Canadian grocery chain Sobeys Inc.

Sobeys

Sobeys is the second largest food retailer in Canada, with over 1,300 supermarkets operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than $14 billion CAD in 2009...

, as well as various commercial real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 and residential development companies, notably ASC (originally Atlantic Shopping Centres) and Crombie REIT

Crombie REIT

Crombie REIT is a property management company owned by the Empire Company.-History:...

. Empire also owns one of Canada's largest movie theatre companies, Empire Theatres

Empire Theatres

Empire Theatres Limited is the second-largest movie theatre chain in Canada, and the only major circuit operating in Atlantic Canada. A subsidiary of Empire Company Ltd., the family-owned parent of the Sobeys supermarket chain presently owns and operates 51 locations in 8 of 10 provinces, from...

. The company also operates additional companies and has various corporate investment activities.

On July 15, 2007, all of the outstanding stocks for Sobeys were purchased by Empire Company Ltd. and Sobeys was therefore privatized by the conglomerate corporation.