The oldest Loblaws store in operation?
Posted: 01 Jul 2019 10:14
From a retail history perspective, the question of the oldest operational store in a chain is always fascinating. There are contenders for the oldest Safeway and the oldest Kroger. Moving north of the border, what might be the oldest operational Loblaws?
Given the company's bewildering branding history, "the oldest operational Loblaws" could mean one of two different things. It could mean the oldest store literally branded under the "Loblaws" name. Or it could mean the oldest store in the entire Loblaw Companies family, including No Frills and Valu-Mart franchises.
Among stores literally branded as "Loblaws," the list of possibilities isn't very long. These days the Loblaws brand appears only on Ontario, and only appears on 46 locations...which the company is extremely vigilant about keeping up-to-date. Indeed, I have a hard time thinking of any local Loblaws (or Zehrs, for that matter) that predates the 1990s.
Yet even so, a few older stores persist in places where the urban density precludes the possibility of plopping their latest stadium-sized prototype in a vacant lot. One of these is 2280 Dundas St W in Toronto...a store of only around 25,000 square feet that even has a 1950s-style incinerator smokestack. The Toronto table notes Loblaws opening at this address by 1960, with the number floating to 2290 and back again. Two other old-looking stores are 270 Kingsway in Etobicoke and 1910 St Laurent Blvd in Ottawa, which I'm guessing date to the 1970s. I don't have any verified dates to go by, though.
If you expand the question to encompass other Loblaw Companies brands and franchised locations...well, where to begin? I can think of no fewer than three 1950s-era Loblaws stores still doing business under the No Frills or Valu-Mart names in London alone; one of which is old enough to have buttresses and windows down the side! I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Valu-Mart in a 1940s or even 1930s building somewhere. But where?
Given the company's bewildering branding history, "the oldest operational Loblaws" could mean one of two different things. It could mean the oldest store literally branded under the "Loblaws" name. Or it could mean the oldest store in the entire Loblaw Companies family, including No Frills and Valu-Mart franchises.
Among stores literally branded as "Loblaws," the list of possibilities isn't very long. These days the Loblaws brand appears only on Ontario, and only appears on 46 locations...which the company is extremely vigilant about keeping up-to-date. Indeed, I have a hard time thinking of any local Loblaws (or Zehrs, for that matter) that predates the 1990s.
Yet even so, a few older stores persist in places where the urban density precludes the possibility of plopping their latest stadium-sized prototype in a vacant lot. One of these is 2280 Dundas St W in Toronto...a store of only around 25,000 square feet that even has a 1950s-style incinerator smokestack. The Toronto table notes Loblaws opening at this address by 1960, with the number floating to 2290 and back again. Two other old-looking stores are 270 Kingsway in Etobicoke and 1910 St Laurent Blvd in Ottawa, which I'm guessing date to the 1970s. I don't have any verified dates to go by, though.
If you expand the question to encompass other Loblaw Companies brands and franchised locations...well, where to begin? I can think of no fewer than three 1950s-era Loblaws stores still doing business under the No Frills or Valu-Mart names in London alone; one of which is old enough to have buttresses and windows down the side! I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Valu-Mart in a 1940s or even 1930s building somewhere. But where?