Zehrmart Inc. (

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Zehrs Markets or simply Zehrs ), is a Canadian

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 lim ...

chain in

southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is dis ...

. The chain has 43 locations and is a part of Loblaw Companies Limited which purchased the Zehrs chain in the mid-1970s.

History

The first store was established by

Emory Zehr Emory may refer to: Places * Emory, Texas, U.S. * Emory (crater), on the moon * Emory Peak, in Texas, U.S. * Emory River, in Tennessee, U.S. Education * Emory and Henry College, or simply Emory, in Emory, Virginia, U.S. * Emory University, i ...

and his sons in

Kitchener Kitchener may refer to: People * Earl Kitchener, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850–1916), British Field Marshal and 1st Earl Kitchener ** Henry Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener (1846–1937) ...

in 1950 and was focused mainly on food. Some of the earliest locations were on Lancaster Street, Belmont Avenue and Highland Road in Kitchener. Until the 1980s, Zehrs had its own line of certain foods, including pop and potato chips; these were eventually replaced by Loblaws' President's Choice line of products. Television commercials for Zehrs included a brief tune with the words "When it comes right down to the one and only reason; you're important to us." Until 1995, the store's logo was a red or orange square, with two small lines to make it a boldened stylized "Z". Zehrs stores have been known in Ontario by three distinct names: Zehrs Markets, Zehrs Food Plus and Zehrs Greatfood (similar to the new Loblaw Greatfood locations opened in the Greater Toronto Area). In 2010, Zehrs unveiled a new logo and store design, renovating several stores to the new format. The new stores are known as Zehrs Markets, as opposed to the new Zehrs Greatfood format that had been opened only a couple of years before. A Kingsville location was changed from a Greatfood to a Zehrs Markets, but is once again operating as a Zehrs Greatfood. The business entity is known as Zehrmart Ltd, which is operated by its parent company, Loblaw Companies Limited. Zehrs employees are represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1977 as well as the UFCW Local 175/633.

Current operations

A Zehrs supermarket in Barrie, 2016The administrative portion of this banner is located in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it the ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. Zehrs Markets regions are divided into three districts, numbered from 1–3. Every department in the store has its own specialist for its district, and further expansion into areas of marketing and merchandising are being utilized most recently. Zehrs operates stores in large cities and small towns throughout southern Ontario. Locations stretch from Kingsville in the south to

Orillia Orillia is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is in Simcoe County between Lake Couchiching and Lake Simcoe. Although it is geographically located within Simcoe County, the city is a single-tier municipality. It is part of the Huronia region of C ...

in the north, and from Windsor in the west to

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Fall ...

in the east and northeast to

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

. It does not have any locations in the Hamilton or Toronto metropolitan areas. It is notable that there are no Zehrs stores in the London-St. Thomas area right in the middle of Zehrs' main market area; that is one of the few areas of southern Ontario where Loblaws had several stores operating when it acquired Zehrs and due to the strength of the Loblaws name in that area that name was retained whereas other Loblaws locations scattered throughout southwestern Ontario were renamed to Zehrs. Locations of a chain of grocery stores in far southwestern Ontario (Windsor, Chatham, Kingsville, Sarnia) named Gordons were renamed to Zehrs in the 1990s. Loblaws has been introducing the Real Canadian Superstore banner to southwestern Ontario and some Zehrs have been renamed to that in recent years. As a "one-stop" shop, Zehrs stores contain traditional departments such as fresh bakery, ready-meals (Fresh2Go), meat and produce, and newer non-traditional departments such as optical stores, wine shops, President's Choice Financial banking kiosks, clothing and electronics departments. In March 2005, Zehrmart Ltd and Fortinos Grocery Stores (both under the Loblaw umbrella) merged their operations and are now run as one unit. In September 2005, all Ontario operations of Loblaw Companies Limited and the banners began moving into the newly constructed office at 1 President's Choice Circle, Brampton, Ontario. As with other Loblaw stores, Zehrs is noted for carrying

President's Choice President's Choice (French: Le choix du Président) or PC are a line of grocery products or services offered by a Canada based company, Loblaw Companies Ltd. The various products are available at the companies retail locations. History Pre ...

products. At newer stores, such as in Guelph or Barrie, the Zehrs logo has the familiar "L" logo from Loblaws added.

Locations

Ontario

42 Locations : * Alliston *

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically i ...

(3) *

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ce ...

* Bradford *

Brantford Brantford ( 2021 population: 104,688) is a city in Ontario, Canada, founded on the Grand River in Southwestern Ontario. It is surrounded by Brant County, but is politically separate with a municipal government of its own that is fully independ ...

(2) *

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

(3) * Fergus * Goderich *

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Well ...

(4) * Keswick *

(4) * Kingsville * LaSalle *

Listowel Listowel ( ; , IPA: �lʲɪsˠˈt̪ˠuəhəlʲ is a heritage market town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is on the River Feale, from the county town, Tralee. The town of Listowel had a population of 4,820 according to the CSO Census 2016. Desc ...

* Orangeville *

Owen Sound Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attr ...

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

(2) * Stratford *

Tecumseh Tecumseh ( ; October 5, 1813) was a Shawnee chief and warrior who promoted resistance to the expansion of the United States onto Native American lands. A persuasive orator, Tecumseh traveled widely, forming a Native American confederacy an ...

Tillsonburg Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada with a population of 18,615 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19. History Prior to European settlement, the present site of Tillso ...

Waterloo Waterloo most commonly refers to: * Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat * Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place. Waterloo may also refer to: Other places Antarctica *King George Island (S ...

(3) *

Welland Welland is a city in the Regional Municipality of Niagara in Southern Ontario, Canada. As of 2021, it had a population of 55,750. The city is in the centre of Niagara and located within a half-hour driving distance to Niagara Falls, Niagara-o ...

* Windsor *

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

References

External links