T. Ozbun
Research expert covering food retail and all food topics for Italy and Brazil
Get in touch with us nowNumber of Canadian supermarket and grocery companies by chain 2018
As of March 2018, Loblaws Companies Ltd. was the leading supermarket and grocery chain in Canada based on number of units. At that time, Loblaws was operating 2,429 units nationally. Sobeys Inc. and Metro Inc. ranked in second and third places, with a total of 1,895 and 918 units respectively.
The origins of Loblaws
Loblaw’s first self-serve grocery store opened in Toronto in 1919 and continued to spread across Ontario in the following years. By 1924, they had expanded into New York State, and later into Chicago in 1928. Today, Loblaws employs almost 200,000 workers in Canada and operates five independent divisions. Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaw’s drugstore division, generated retail sales of around 12.87 million Canadian dollars in 2018.
The Canadian market leader
As well as having the most units of all supermarket chains, Loblaw Cos Ltd. was also the Canadian grocery market leader according to sales value in 2019 - Loblaw’s grocery sales reached approximately 45.63 billion Canadian dollars in that year , over 20 billion more than second placed Sobeys Inc. Since 2013, Loblaws’ food retail store sales have continued to grow year-on-year, helping to secure their top position in the Canadian grocery market.
The origins of Loblaws
Loblaw’s first self-serve grocery store opened in Toronto in 1919 and continued to spread across Ontario in the following years. By 1924, they had expanded into New York State, and later into Chicago in 1928. Today, Loblaws employs almost 200,000 workers in Canada and operates five independent divisions. Shoppers Drug Mart, Loblaw’s drugstore division, generated retail sales of around 12.87 million Canadian dollars in 2018.
The Canadian market leader
As well as having the most units of all supermarket chains, Loblaw Cos Ltd. was also the Canadian grocery market leader according to sales value in 2019 - Loblaw’s grocery sales reached approximately 45.63 billion Canadian dollars in that year , over 20 billion more than second placed Sobeys Inc. Since 2013, Loblaws’ food retail store sales have continued to grow year-on-year, helping to secure their top position in the Canadian grocery market.
