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This year, 2001, marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of IGA in Canada. For many people, IGA is unquestionably the most successful voluntary group of independent grocers, not just in Canada, but in the world. Today, working together, IGA retailers and wholesalers have revitalized the IGA program to ensure its continued success well into the future.
Founded in 1926 by a Chicago accountant, J. Frank Grimes, IGA has grown from 64 stores that first year to thousands of stores in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Indonesia, China, Japan, and Korea.
In Canada, the father of IGA was clearly Ray Wolfe, president of The Ontario Produce Company, who believed strongly that the Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) was the model needed to help our Canadian independent grocers compete successfully against the growing buying power of the chains. After a couple of attempts to secure the IGA franchise for Southern Ontario, Wolfe finally succeeded in 1951 when his new distribution company, Oshawa Wholesale, opened Canada's first IGA store, in Toronto.
By the end of 1951, there were 55 IGA retailers in Ontario, with total sales of nearly $7 million. Today, there are nearly 600 IGA stores across Canada, and their sales volume is approaching $6 billion! Two family-based wholesalers, Sobeys Inc. and H.Y. Louie Co. Ltd., hold the master IGA franchises for all of Canada, and together they are rejuvenating their programs for all their IGA retailers.
It is a staggering success story, all based on a simple premise: by combining their purchasing power, a group of independents can buy better than any individual grocer; and by working with their wholesaler, independent grocers can gain access to expertise and services previously available only to corporate chains. In other words, IGA helps independent grocers compete in an ever-more-competitive marketplace.
This is the story of IGA in Canada.
The IGA Wholesalers
Sobeys Inc.
'IGA stores represent one of our strongest competitive advantages.'
"We are committed to developing IGA, and we are committed to making our strategy the most worthwhile experience for all our constituents." So says Bill McEwan, president and CEO of Sobeys Inc., the newest and largest of the two IGA wholesalers in Canada.
Those constituents, he says, include: 1) customers of the...