The Overwaitea Food Group is an operator of

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more limit ...

s, based in Langley, British Columbia. It is owned by the

Jim Pattison Group The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole ...

. Most stores are under the Save-On-Foods banner, which it launched in 1982. On March 8, 1915, Robert C. Kidd purchased a store at 746 Columbia Street in

New Westminster New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capi ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

. He developed several innovative merchandising techniques to attract customers to his store including odd-penny pricing and selling 18 ounces of tea for the price of a pound. The store was soon known as the "over-weight tea" store. When Kidd opened his second store, he decided to call it "Overwaitea". As of August 2015, the Overwaitea Food Group owned and operated 145 grocery stores in B.C. and Alberta under six different

brand names A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. OFG later opened four stores in Saskatchewan and three stores in Winnipeg, Manitoba during 2016. Additionally, in 2017 a full-size store was opened in

Whitehorse, Yukon Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

. In February 2014, it was announced that Overwaitea would purchase 15 stores from

Sobey's Sobeys Inc. is the second largest supermarket chain in Canada, with over 1,500 stores operating across Canada under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of ...

, three in Alberta and twelve in British Columbia. The stores purchased were under the

Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, del ...

Thrifty Foods Thrifty Foods (often shortened to Thrifty's) is a chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada. Background Thrifty Foods was founded by Alex Campbell and Ernie Skinner in 1977 when the first store was opened in Victoria's Fairfie ...

, and Sobey's banners and all will convert to become Save-On-Foods stores. It was also announced that Overwaitea would convert 11 Pricesmart Foods locations to the Save-On-Foods brand. OFG employed over 15,000 team members, as of August 2015. On March 22, 2018, the Overwaitea Foods banner became defunct with the closure of the last two locations in British Columbia, which were reopened the following day as Save-On-Foods stores.

Store Banners

* Save-On-Foods *

Urban Fare Urban Fare is a supermarket chain located in British Columbia. It is a subsidiary of the Overwaitea Food Group, which, in turn, is owned by the Vancouver-based Jim Pattison Group. The chain has six locations, four located in downtown Vancouver a ...

PriceSmart Foods PriceSmart Foods is a chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Overwaitea Food Group, which is owned by the Jim Pattison Group. PriceSmart shares the same brands and rewards card system ...

Bulkley Valley Wholesale Bulkeley or Bulkley is a surname. Notable persons with that surname include: * Charles Bulkeley Bulkeley-Johnson (1867–1917), British Officer * Elisabeth Rivers-Bulkeley (1924–2006), Austrian stock broker * Henry Bulkeley (c. 1641–1698), E ...

* Buy-Low Foods

More Rewards

More Rewards is a coalition customer loyalty program run by Overwaitea Food Group. Points can be earned at OFG store banners,

Petro Canada Petro-Canada is a retail and wholesale marketing brand subsidiary of Suncor Energy. Until 1991, it was a federal Crown corporation (a state-owned enterprise). In August 2009, Petro-Canada merged with Suncor Energy, with Suncor shareholders rece ...

gas stations (although this agreement ended on July 31, 2020), Panago,

Coast Hotels Coast Hotels Limited, a fully owned subsidiary of APA Hotels Canada, Inc. is one of North America's fastest-growing and Canada's largest hotel brands. With corporate offices in Vancouver, B.C. and Seattle, WA, Coast Hotels owns, manages and franchi ...

, Jim Pattison Auto Group locations, and more. The program also had a Visa credit card offered by

Scotiabank The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

, although it was discontinued on August 31, 2019.

References

External links

Official website
Jim Pattison Group Supermarkets of Canada {{retail-company-stub Food and drink companies based in British Columbia