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Contents

   



(Top)
 


1 History  





2 Notable people  





3 Retail units  





4 Non-retail units  





5 Decline  





6 See also  





7 References  





8 External links  














Oshawa Group






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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 


Oshawa Group

Industry

Supermarket, Retail, Wholesale, Real estate

Founded

1957 (1957)

Defunct

1998 (1998)

Fate

Acquired by Sobeys

Headquarters

302 The East Mall, Toronto, Ontario

Products

bakery, charcuterie, clothing, dairy, deli, frozen foods, gardening centre, general grocery, general merchandise, meat & poultry, pharmacy, photolab, produce, seafood, snacks, consumer goods

The Oshawa Group was once a leading owner of supermarkets in Ontario, Canada. It was bought by Sobeys (via Empire Company Limited) in 1998. The company was based in Etobicoke and traded on the Toronto and Montreal stock exchanges.

History[edit]

Founded in 1957 as Oshawa Wholesale Limited, the company grew from expansion in the 1960s to 1980s. It was renamed the Oshawa Group Limited in 1971. The company roots date back further to 1914 by founders Max Wolfe (1893–1987) and Maurice Wolfe, who started the Ontario Produce Company and acquired Oshawa Wholesale in 1949 and later gave rise to Oshawa Group.[1][2]

Notable people[edit]

Through the life of the company it was run by the Wolfe family:

Retail units[edit]

Beginning in the 1960s, Oshawa Group acquired various retail chains and stores:

  • Dutch Boy
  • Dutch Girl
  • Rite-Way Department Store 1966
  • IGA 1964
  • Bassin Food chain 1964
  • Tradition Market Fresh Food
  • Knechtel
  • Pharma Plus Drug Stores - acquired in 1988 from Boots Drug Stores and once owned by Loblaws operating as Tamblyn Drugs; sold to Katz Group of Companies
  • Kent Drugs Limited 1968
  • Rockower of Canada Limited 1968
  • Food City and later as Food Town - converted by Oshawa Group to Price Chopper
  • Price Chopper discount supermarket chain, rebranded to FreshCo some time after Oshawa Group was purchased by Sobeys.
  • Towers Department Stores 1967 - acquired as Allied Towers Merchants Limited and ceased operations in 1991 with store locations sold to Zellers)
  • Consumers Distributing Company Limited - sold 50% stake in 1978
  • Coinamatic Laundry Equipment - sold 90% stake in 1978
  • acquired Dominion Stores Limited's operations in Nova Scotia and Safeway's stores in Southern Ontario 1985
  • Non-retail units[edit]

    Outside of retailing, Oshawa Group acquired various companies and real estate:

    Oshawa Group also operated food services company SERCA Foodservices Incorporated.

    Decline[edit]

    The retail scene changed in the 1990s, even as the Oshawa Group had begun re-focusing on core operations beginning in the 1980s. The entire operation was sold in 1998 to Sobeys and the Oshawa name disappeared from Canadian retailing.

    See also[edit]

    References[edit]

    1. ^ "Towers Department Stores: History". Archived from the original on 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2012-02-29.
  • ^ "Sobeys Inc. | Encyclopedia.com".
  • External links[edit]


    Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Oshawa_Group&oldid=1163731544"

    Categories: 
    1957 establishments in Ontario
    1998 disestablishments in Ontario
    Retail companies established in 1957
    Retail companies disestablished in 1998
    Defunct companies of Ontario
    Defunct supermarkets of Canada
    Sobeys
    Canadian companies disestablished in 1998
    Canadian companies established in 1957
    Hidden categories: 
    Articles with short description
    Short description matches Wikidata
     



    This page was last edited on 6 July 2023, at 08:49 (UTC).

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