Number of food stores in Canada by type 2018

In 2018, there were almost 7,000 unaffiliated independent food stores and roughly 2,500 supermarket chain food stores in Canada.

Food store sales

At nearly 32 billion Canadian dollars, food stores in Ontario generated the highest sales numbers out of any province in Canada in 2018. Just over 60 percent of those sales were generated by chain food stores, while the remainder were made by independent stores. Chains generated the highest sales numbers in all regions in Canada, except for Québec, where over 60 percent of food store sales were made in independent stores.

Sobeys Inc.

Sobeys is the second-largest food retail company in Canada. Founded over 100 years ago, the company is headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, and employs over 120,000 people today. In 2018, Sobeys operated approximately 1,900 units across all ten provinces, placing the company between Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Metro Inc., in terms of store count. In 2019, Sobeys generated an estimated 25 billion Canadian dollars in revenue, which was a slight increase compared to the year before.