Wal-Mart Canada is the Canadian unit of Wal-Mart and was founded in 1994 in Mississauga, Ontario with the purchase of the Canadian Woolco stores from Woolworth Canada.
Wal-Mart typically competes with Zellers, Canadian Tire, Hart Stores, Giant Tiger, and Real Canadian Superstore, Costco, and increasingly grocery stores such as Loblaws, Metro, Sobeys-Thrifty Foods, Safeway, Save-On-Foods, Country Grocer, Fairway Markets, others.
Beginning in the fall of 2006, Wal-Mart opened new Supercentres in select Canadian cities with 14 new stores by the end of 2007. Wal-Mart locations already carry limited grocery items in Canada.
History
Headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Wal-Mart Canada was established in 1994 with the acquisition of the Woolco Canada chain of 122 stores. Wal-Mart Canada has plans to open 15-20 stores each year. Almost all Canadian Walmart stores have McDonald's locations.
New store in Canada with "Walmart" signage. This is the first store in Canada to use the new logo, although some signage in the store uses the old "Wal*Mart" logo.
Top 5 stores in Canada
- Square One Shopping Centre, 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (Store 3055)
- Wal-Mart Supercentre Edmonton West, Stony Plain Rd & 184th St.
- Marlborough Mall, Memorial Drive and 36th Street, Calgary (Store 3012)
- Wal-Mart Supercentre, 800 Warden Ave., Toronto, Ontario
- South Edmonton Common, 9717-21st Avenue N.W., Edmonton (Store 3029)
Community Involvement
- Raised and donated $7.6 million to Children's Miracle Network (CMN) to support children's hospitals across Canada.[1]
- Contributed $2.9 million to more than 1,000 local non-profit organizations through Wal-Mart's Local Matching Grant program.
- Raised and contributed $2.8 million for the Breakfast for Learning Canada program, a school nutrition program and partnership with a goal to ensure all school children attend class well nourished and ready to learn.
- Became the top corporate sponsor of the Canadian Red Cross, with $1 million in relief aid related to Hurricane Katrina, the India earthquake and other projects.
- Donated $300,000 to Evergreen, a Canadian non-profit environmental organization to help community groups create and improve green space in urban areas across the country.[2]
- Awarded $115,000 in scholarships to Canadian university and college students.
- Supported 150 Canadian schools through a number of programs including Wal-Mart Canada's Adopt-a School program.
Wal-Mart Discount Stores in Canada
Sault Ste. Marie Wal-Mart in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
A typical Wal-Mart discount department store. Wal-Mart Discount Stores are discount department stores with size varying from 51,000 square feet (4,738.1 m2) to 150,000 square feet (13,935.4 m2), with an average store covering about 102,000 square feet (9,476.1 m2). They carry general merchandise and a selection of food. Many of these stores also have a garden centre, a pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical centre, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, a bank branch, a cell phone store and a fast food outlet (usually McDonald's).
Walmart was established in Canada in 1994 with the acquisition of the 122-store Woolco division of Woolworth Canada.
As of May 31, 2009, there were 255 Wal-Mart Discount Stores in Canada.[1] In 2006, the busiest in the world was one in Square One Shopping Centre, 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga, Ontario (Store 3055).
Wal-Mart Supercentres in Canada
Vaughan Wal-Mart Supercentre in Vaughan, Ontario.
With the success of both Wal-Mart in Canada and Wal-Mart Supercenters in the United States, it was announced in late 2005 that the Supercenter (or, in Canadian English, Supercentre) concept would be arriving in Canada. On November 8, 2006, Canada's first three Supercentres opened in Ancaster (Hamilton), London, and Stouffville in Ontario.[3] Alberta became the second province with Supercentres the following year in September 2007.[4] The first Supercentre in Vancouver, British Columbia opened in January 2009 in a former Costco/Price Club location which moved to a new larger site nearby in Burnaby.[5]
Wal-Mart Supercentres are hypermarkets with size varying from 98,000 square feet (9,104.5 m2) to 261,000 square feet (24,247.7 m2), with an average of about 197,000 square feet (18,301.9 m2). These stock everything a Wal-Mart Discount Store does, and also include a full-service supermarket, including meat and poultry, baked goods, delicatessen, frozen foods, dairy products, garden produce, and fresh seafood. Many Wal-Mart Supercentres also have a garden centre, pet shop, pharmacy, Tire & Lube Express, optical centre, one-hour photo processing lab, portrait studio, and numerous alcove shops, such as cellular phone stores, hair and nail salons, video rental stores, local bank branches, and fast food outlets (usually McDonald's).
As of May 31, 2009, there were 57 Wal-Mart Supercentres in Canada.[1]
Locations
Alberta
28 locations:
19 Supercentre locations:
British Columbia
28 locations:
4 Supercentre locations:
Manitoba
13 locations:
New Brunswick
12 locations:
Newfoundland and Labrador
11 locations:
Northwest Territories
1 location:
Nova Scotia
15 locations:
Ontario
75 locations:
36 Supercentre locations:
Prince Edward Island
2 locations:
Quebec
53 locations:
Saskatchewan
14 locations:
Yukon
1 location:
Controversy
For more information please see Criticism of Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has been the subject of some criticism by certain groups who claim that Wal-Mart has lower labour standards than other similar retailers. Other criticisms centre around the claim that due to their low prices they drive out local businesses.
Gallery
Moncton Wal-Mart in Moncton, New Brunswick.
|
Sault Ste. Marie Wal-Mart in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
|
Yellowknife Wal-Mart in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories.
|
Whitehorse Wal-Mart in Whitehorse, Yukon.
|
Simcoe New Wal-Mart in Simcoe, Ontario.
|
Ancaster Wal-Mart Supercentre in Hamilton, Ontario.
|
Vaughan Wal-Mart Supercentre in Vaughan, Ontario.
|
Mississauga Wal-Mart Supercentre in Mississauga, Ontario.
|
Burlington New Wal-Mart Supercentre in Burlington, Ontario.
|
References
External links
