Princess Auto

Last updated
Princess Auto Ltd.
Company type Private
IndustryRetail
Founded1933
FounderHarvey Tallman
Headquarters Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Number of locations
55
Key people
Bob Tallman (former CEO)
Ken Larson (CEO)
ProductsAir & Power, HVAC, Automotive Repair & Shop, Tools & Safety, Metal Fab, Seasonal, Outdoor, Truck & Trailer, Driveline, Parts, Surplus
OwnerMatt and Marc Tallman
Number of employees
3,000+ (2021)
Website princessauto.com

Princess Auto is a Canadian retail chain specializing in farm, industrial, garage, hydraulics and surplus items. [1]

Contents

Headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Princess Auto owns and operates 55 stores in ten provinces as of January 2024, along with three distribution centres (Winnipeg; Calgary, Alberta; and Milton, Ontario). [2] Various items are sold under its "Powerfist" and "Pro.Point" brands.[ citation needed ]

History

Originally called Princess Auto Wrecking, the company was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1933. The business was struggling and the founding owner, a former merchant marine, sold the company in 1942 to Harvey Tallman. Tallman expanded the auto wrecking business into war surplus, and later, tools and equipment. [3]

The company went through a few name changes in its lifetime, beginning with its founding as Princess Auto Wrecking, changing to Princess Auto and Machinery, and finally, to Princess Auto Ltd. In 1977, Princess Auto became a retailer, opening its first store in Edmonton, Alberta. [4]

In the mid-1940s, Tallman expanded into war surplus, buying salvaged items that returned from WWII and selling them. [3]

In 2015, a manufacturing division in Winnipeg was closed.[ clarification needed ] [5] Princess Auto also offers online sales, a national call centre, and mail order service.[ citation needed ]

On January 23, 2024, Princess Auto became the naming sponsor of the stadium formerly known as IG Field in Winnipeg. The venue, which serves as the home of the Canadian Football League's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, will be renamed Princess Auto Stadium in April 2024. [6]

Stores

As of August 2024, the company owns and operates 55 stores and three distribution centres (Winnipeg; Calgary, Alberta; and Milton, Ontario). [2] Since the opening of its first Quebec store in Saint-Jérôme in September 2019, it has had stores in every province. [7]

In Quebec, the tagline on the storefronts is Des idées. Des outils. ("Ideas. Tools."). The French language has been added to the website and the complete catalog has also been translated and printed in French.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western Hockey League</span> Junior ice hockey league

The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior hockey in Canada, alongside the Ontario Hockey League and Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League. Teams play for the Ed Chynoweth Cup, with the winner moving on to play for the Memorial Cup, Canada's national junior championship. WHL teams have won the Memorial Cup 19 times. The WHL is composed of 22 teams divided into two conferences of two divisions. The Eastern Conference comprises 11 teams from Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, while the Western Conference comprises eleven teams from British Columbia and the American states of Washington and Oregon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudson's Bay (department store)</span> Canadian department store chain

Hudson's Bay, also known as The Bay, is a Canadian department store chain. It is the flagship brand of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the oldest and longest-surviving company in North America as well as one of the oldest and largest continuously operating companies in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loblaw Companies</span> Canadian retail company

Loblaw Companies Limited is a Canadian retailer encompassing corporate and franchise supermarkets operating under 22 regional and market-segment banners, as well as pharmacies, banking and apparel. Loblaw operates a private label program that includes grocery and household items, clothing, baby products, pharmaceuticals, cellular phones, general merchandise and financial services. Loblaw is the largest Canadian food retailer, and its brands include President's Choice, No Name and Joe Fresh. It is controlled by George Weston Limited, a holding company controlled by the Weston family; Galen G. Weston is the chair of the Loblaw board of directors, as well as chair of the board of directors and CEO of Canada-based holding company George Weston.

Sobeys Inc. is a national supermarket chain in Canada with over 1,500 stores operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than C$25.1 billion in the fiscal 2019 operating year. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empire Company Limited, a Canadian business conglomerate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wardair</span> Defunct airline of Canada (1952–1989)

Wardair Canada was a privately run Canadian airline, founded by Max Ward in 1952 under the name Wardair Ltd, before formally changing its name to "Wardair Canada" in 1976. The airline was acquired by and merged into Canadian Airlines in 1989.

Dominion was a national chain of supermarkets in Canada, which was known as the Dominion of Canada when the chain was founded. The chain was founded in 1919 in Ontario and was later acquired by the Argus Corporation. It was broken up in the mid-1980s, with key locations and the rights to the brand sold to The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P), which restricted the chain to the Greater Toronto Area. Stores elsewhere in Ontario were converted to the A&P banner, and others were sold to third parties. A&P's Canadian division was later acquired by Metro Inc., which rebranded the remaining Dominion stores to its namesake banner in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eaton's</span> Canadian retailer

The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's and then Eaton, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying-offices around the globe, and a mail-order catalog that was found in the homes of most Canadians. A changing economic and retail environment in the late twentieth century, along with mismanagement, culminated in the chain's bankruptcy in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Junior Football League</span> Canadian football league

The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to professional football careers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and elsewhere.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairchild Group</span> Canadian business conglomerate

The Fairchild Group is a Canadian business conglomerate headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Fairchild Group operates various media properties under the Fairchild Media Group name. Fairchild currently operates the Cantonese channel Fairchild TV, Cantonese & Mandarin radio network Fairchild Radio, and Mandarin channel Talentvision. Fairchild Group is also involved in film production, real estate development, retail, telecommunications and wholesale trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eaton Centre</span> Canadian shopping centres

Eaton Centre is a name associated with shopping centres in Canada, originating with Eaton's, one of Canada's largest department store chains at the time that these malls were developed. Eaton's partnered with development companies throughout the 1970s and 1980s to develop downtown shopping malls in cities across Canada. Each mall contained an Eaton's store, or was in close proximity to an Eaton's store, and typically the mall itself carried the "Eaton Centre" name. These joint ventures were a significant retail development trend in Canada during that period.

Brewers' Distributor Ltd. (BDL) is a Canadian company that distributes beer throughout the four western provinces and three northern territories. It is a private joint venture company owned by AB InBev and Molson-Coors. BDL operates nine distribution centres and four cross dock facilities in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Its head office is located in Calgary, Alberta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Furniture Warehouse</span> Defunct Canadian retail furniture chain, now part of The Brick

United Furniture Warehouse (UFW) was a Canadian retail furniture chain operating locations in Western Canada and Ontario. The company billed itself as "offering warehouse-style shopping at the lowest possible prices." The company was founded in 1981 by John Volken, an immigrant who arrived in Canada from East Germany in 1960 at the age of 18. It "was one of the first businesses to sell at warehouse prices and to operate without commission sales staff or in-store decor."

Burnbrae Farms is a Canadian producer and processor of eggs, supplying grocery store chains, the food service industry, large bakeries and industrial customers. The company has farms in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, grading stations across the country and processing operations in Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Revillon Frères</span>

Revillon Frères was a French fur and luxury goods company, founded in Paris in 1723. Then called la Maison Givelet, it was purchased by Louis-Victor Revillon in 1839 and soon, as Revillon Frères, became the largest fur company in France. Branches were opened in London in 1869 and in New York in 1878. At the end of the 19th century, Revillon had stores in Paris, London, New York City, and Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Target Canada</span> Defunct Canadian discount department store chain

Target Canada Co. was the Canadian subsidiary of the Target Corporation, the eighth-largest retailer in the United States. Formerly headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, the subsidiary formed with the acquisition of Zellers store leases from the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in January 2011. Target Canada opened its first store in March 2013, and by January 2015 was operating 133 locations throughout Canada. Its main competition included Walmart Canada, Loblaws, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Canadian Tire.

Safeway is a Canadian supermarket chain of 135 full service supermarket stores mostly operating in the western provinces in Canada. It was established in 1929 as a subsidiary of the American Safeway Inc., before being sold in 2013 to Canada's second-largest supermarket chain, Sobeys, a division of the conglomerate Empire Company. Independent since 2013 from the American company it continues to use the same Safeway name and logo as of May 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Metropolitan Stores</span> Defunct Canadian variety department store chain

Metropolitan Stores of Canada Ltd. was a Canadian variety department store chain based in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2023 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season</span> CFL team season

The 2023 Winnipeg Blue Bombers season was the 65th season for the team in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and their 90th season overall. The Blue Bombers qualified for the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season and played in their fourth straight Grey Cup game. However, the team lost the 110th Grey Cup to the Montreal Alouettes.

References

  1. Princess Auto
  2. 1 2 "Store Locator". Princess Auto. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
  3. 1 2 Redekop, Bill (November 9, 2023). "From auto wrecker to Canadian retail chain". The Western Producer. Retrieved August 1, 2024.
  4. Princess Auto - Our Story
  5. Princess Auto careers
  6. "Winnipeg Blue Bombers home venue to be renamed Princess Auto Stadium in April". TSN. The Canadian Press. 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
  7. "Locations". Princess Auto. Retrieved 9 July 2021.