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| Company type | Supermarket |
|---|---|
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Number of locations | 142 [1] |
Key people | Liam Bryant (president) |
| Products | Food, general merchandise (non-food) |
| Parent | A&P Canada (1995–2005) Metro Inc. (2005–present) |
| Website | www |
Food Basics Ltd. is a Canadian supermarket chain owned by Metro Inc. The company operates 142 stores throughout Ontario. [1]
Food Basics was created by A&P Canada to compete with the successful No Frills warehouse-style supermarket operated by Loblaw Companies. It became part of the Metro group [2] when A&P Canada was sold to Metro for $1.7 billion in 2005. [3]
Food Basics lowers its prices in a number of ways: low maintenance (no free plastic bags, just free cardboard boxes), store decor is kept to a minimum, and fewer staff are employed, mostly in part-time positions. The chain operates by pushing higher volumes on a limited selection of products than Metro stores, allowing it to compete price-wise with other grocery stores. There were 117 locations in Ontario. 36 were franchise stores until Metro Inc. purchased all stores back by the end of 2008.
Some Food Basics feature a pharmacy known as Food Basics Pharmacy.
Some locations are former Super Fresh or A&P supermarkets, dating from when both chains were operated by A&P, [4] or other former banners such as A&P-owned Dominion or Metro-owned Super C.
In the past, the owners' names appeared on the banner (e.g., 'John/Jane's Food Basics'); however, all stores are now simply called 'Food Basics'. Concurrent with this change is a different slogan, which was changed from "Best Prices Everyday!!!" to "Always more for less!"
In Fall 2006, Metro Inc. began to renovate Food Basics stores. The design and format of these new stores closely resemble Metro's Super C banner in Quebec. New store signs feature broken lettering and a larger emphasis on yellow, green, and beige colours. In Spring 2007, Metro Inc. initiated their new inventory system into all of its warehouses.
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Food Basics is represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers union. Food Basics mostly offers part-time positions, and each store has few full-time positions. In 2015, overnight positions were discontinued by most stores because of budget reasons.
143 locations in Ontario: [5]
Food Basics carries many products from Metro's private label brands:
Loblaws is a Canadian supermarket chain with stores located in the province of Ontario, and in Alberta and British Columbia under the Loblaws CityMarket banner. Headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Loblaws is a subsidiary of Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada's largest food distributor.
Metro Inc. is a Canadian supermarket chain operating in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario. The company is based in Montreal, Quebec, with head office at 11011 Boulevard Maurice-Duplessis. Metro is the third largest grocer in Canada, after Loblaw Companies Limited and Sobeys.
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A warehouse store or warehouse supermarket is a food and grocery retailer that operates stores geared toward offering deeper discounted prices than a traditional supermarket. These stores offer a no-frills experience and warehouse shelving stocked well with merchandise intended to move at higher volumes. Unlike warehouse clubs, warehouse stores do not require a membership or membership fees. Warehouse stores can also offer a selection of merchandise sold in bulk. Typically, warehouse stores are laid out in a logical format; this leads customers in a certain way around the store to the checkout. For example, as one enters the store they are directed down an aisle of discounted products. From there the layout could then lead to the fresh produce department, followed by the deli and bakery departments at the back of the store. Often, certain customer service niceties, like the bagging of groceries, are not done by store employees; this helps reduce overall cost. Many warehouse stores are operated by traditional grocery chains both as a way to attract lower income, value conscious consumers and to maximize their buying power in order to lower costs at their mainstream stores.
FreshCo Ltd. is a Canadian chain of discount supermarkets owned by Sobeys. It was launched in March 2010. As of September 2023, there were 100 FreshCo stores.
Super C is a discount supermarket chain with 101 stores in Quebec. The stores average 4,103 square metres (44,164 sq ft) in size. Super C offers 8,000 products including some 1,200 products from the Super C private label brand.
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Food Basics was a no-frills discount supermarket chain owned and operated by The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company in the northeastern United States.
