Thrifty Foods is a chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada. It was founded by Alex Campbell and Ernie Skinner in 1977 when the first store was opened in Victoria's Fairfield neighbourhood. As of November 2012, the chain operates 29 stores on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland. It is the largest supermarket chain on Vancouver Island. In 2007 it became a division of Sobeys Inc. which operates independently of the larger company. Sobeys purchased the chain from founder Alex Campbell for CDN$260 million.
There are eight Thrifty Foods locations in the Greater Vancouver area, including Abbotsford, Tsawwassen, Coquitlam, New Westminster, South Surrey, Port Moody, Maple Ridge, and North Vancouver. One store is located on Saltspring Island and the remainder of the stores are on Vancouver Island. The company's main head office and distribution centre is located in Central Saanich, British Columbia, a suburb of Greater Victoria.
The company has an annual scholarship program that gives out $1500 to 20 students that are part of the company's web, either directly or indirectly.
Thrifty Foods is the largest private employer on Vancouver Island. In 1999, Thrifty Foods was voted among the Ten Best Companies to Work For in British Columbia. In 2007, Thrifty Foods was recognized as one of Canada's 50 Best Managed Companies.
Famous quotes containing the words thrifty and/or foods:
“Be thrifty with your family, but generous with your guests.”
—Chinese proverb.
“There are many of us who cannot but feel dismal about the future of various cultures. Often it is hard not to agree that we are becoming culinary nitwits, dependent upon fast foods and mass kitchens and megavitamins for our basically rotten nourishment.”
—M.F.K. Fisher (1908–1992)