NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

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Groceteria
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NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

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Andrew T.
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Re: NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

Post by Andrew T. »

It's interesting that Loblaws was operating in Halifax as Valu-Mart in the 1970s and as No Frills in the early 1980s, in spite of never operating in the city under its own name! At least for the Valu-Marts, they started off as "Save-Easy," which is a name that first appeared in Halifax by 1965. Was this yet another one of Loblaws' bewildering brands? Or could this have been an unrelated franchise system that was discarded by store owners in favour of Loblaws' offerings?
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
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Groceteria
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Re: NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

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Save-Easy was a franchise owned by Atlantic Wholesalers, a company Loblaws purchased sometime in the 1970s I think. They seem to have rebranded most of the urban locations in the Maritimes under a variety of names (No Frills, Atlantic Save-Easy, Valu-Mart) before consolidating the primary stores under the Atlantic Superstore banner. Save-Easy was relegated to small towns, and most if not all are now Your Independent Grocer, I think.

I don't think Loblaws ever operated anywhere in Atlantic Canada under their own name.
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Re: NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

Post by Groceteria »

Nova Scotia photo gallery added (yes, I'm finally starting to do that again, too...):

http://www.groceteria.com/place/canada- ... o-gallery/
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Groceteria
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Re: NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

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Halifax now has its 1940 column:

http://www.groceteria.com/place/canada- ... a/halifax/

The Depression hit Halifax especially hard, it seems, bringing the demise of Empire Stores, Superior Chain Stores, and Stirling Stores.
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the506
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Re: NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

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Hi everyone....Maritimer here who just came across this board. Nice to see a few other people who notice/care about this sort of thing!

Some context and history about Loblaws in the Maritimes: After Loblaws bought Atlantic Wholesalers/Save-Easy in the 70s, they launched the No Frills brand in a handful of locations across the region. For whatever reason it didn't take off like it did in Ontario, and all stores were rebranded or closed around ~1990. This is the first I've heard of a Valu-Mart store on the east coast but it wouldn't surprise me either. I don't know of the Loblaws banner ever being used in the Maritimes either.

They opened the first Atlantic Superstores (all new builds) around 1986, and I believe they also owned the Capitol chain in the Halifax area for a brief time before closing it in the early 90s.

Around 1995 they had a massive restructuring of their banners. They built several new Atlantic Superstores across the region, closed several Save-Easys, and rebranded most of the remaining Save-Easy stores in high-traffic urban areas as Atlantic SuperValu. They kept the Save-Easy name in rural areas, and for the odd low-traffic urban franchise store.

They also bought the Village chain in NB around this time (which grew from the ashes of the old Dominion stores in that province), closed some and rebranded others as SuperValu as well. A few years later, several IGA stores in NS and PEI were divested to Loblaws when Sobeys merged with the Oshawa Group.

Through the 2000s the SuperValu name was phased out. Most were expanded into Superstores, a few closed entirely. If I'm not mistaken, the last SuperValu was in Chatham NB and was rebranded a Superstore around ~2015.

In the early 2010s they reintroduced the No Frills banner in Atlantic Canada. Some were the remaining urban Save-Easys, but they also converted the odd Superstore, mostly ex-SuperValu stores that were never expanded.
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Re: NEW: Halifax NS, 1925-2000

Post by Andrew T. »

Welcome, the506! And thanks for the scoop on Halifax.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
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