grocery founded fairfield victoria bc 1977 headquarters central saanich british columbia key people alex campbell founder lorne maclean 1 general manager marc poulin 2 president & ceo of sobeys products grocery owner empire company number of employees approx . 5 000 parent sobeys website www.thriftyfoods.com 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 june 2014 the chain operates 25 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 . thrifty foods since 2004 has operated an on line grocery service on vancouver island . the online ordering system extends into the metro vancouver area . 3 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 . 4 in 2007 thrifty foods was recognized as one of canada s 50 best managed companies . 5 on april 14 2014 overwaitea food group took over 3 thrifty foods locations including brooks landing in nanaimo abbotsford and sapperton at new westminster via an acquisition to ensure that sobey s does not become a monopoly in the region . locations edit 25 locations campbell river courtenay 2 duncan maple ridge mill bay nanaimo 2 north vancouver parksville port moody saltspring island sidney surrey tsawwassen victoria 10 references edit thrifty foods gets a new general manager canadian grocer marc poulin appointed president of sobeys victoria grocers ready for amazon delivery invasion times colonist october 31 2013 10 02 pm ten best companies to work for in bc november 1999 canada s 50 best managed companies v t e supermarket chains in canada loblaw companies atlantic superstore dominion extra foods fortinos freshmart loblaws maxi no frills provigo real canadian superstore saveeasy supervalu t & t valu mart wholesale club your independent grocer zehrs metro inc. food basics metro super c march adonis overwaitea food group overwaitea foods pricesmart foods save on foods urban fare sobeys foodland freshco iga except in british columbia price chopper safeway sobeys thrifty foods other national chains costco walmart regional chains calgary co op ab calgary area choices market bc vancouver kelowna co op atlantic maritimes qc farm boy on ottawa area kingston fairway markets bc victoria area foodex nl galati market fresh on toronto h mart bc & on highland farms on greater toronto area iga bc longo s on greater toronto area march frais qc ottawa northern northmart northern canada saskatoon co op sk saskatoon area spud bc alberta whole foods market bc & ontario defunct banners a & p ayre s supermarkets commisso s food markets dominion food city galati brothers h ritage knob hill farms loeb miracle food mart sav a centre steinberg s super centre target ultra food & drug village food stores zellers 2 stores still remain in ontario list of supermarket chains in canada this food and or confectionery corporation or company related article is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title thrifty foods & oldid 734679260 categories online grocersonline retailers of canadasobeyssupermarkets of canadaretail companies established in 1977companies based in british columbia1977 establishments in british columbiafood company stubshidden categories all stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 16 august 2016 at 00 22 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view