Overwaitea celebrates its centennial in style

It was 47 years ago that Jim Pattison received an unsolicited phone call from a stranger that caused him to buy Overwaitea Foods.

The then-39-year-old entrepreneur was working at his Vancouver car dealership. He bought the small-town grocery chain in 1968 for about $8 million.

“I didn’t know much about the food business but I didn’t know much about any other business we bought over the years, except the car business,” he said in a Vancouver Sun interview.

Overwaitea Food Group celebrated the 100th anniversary of the first Overwaitea store in New Westminster on February 25.

Today, the chain now operates 145 stores in B.C. and Alberta, employing more than 14,500 people. Next year there are plans to enter the Saskatchewan market and Manitoba in the future.

At the party, the 86-years young Pattison played Happy Birthday on the trumpet in front of a Model-T Ford.

See video here of Jim Pattison playing the trumpet.

Is Pattison selling Overwaitea? He insists he has never been tempted to sell.

“We don’t tend to be sellers of businesses, generally speaking,” he said in the report. “Overwaitea has been a very important part of our company for a long time.”

Adding to his grocery empire, Overwaitea is building a 528,000-square-foot warehouse in Edmonton as the company continues its growth in Western Canada.

“Right now our objective is to be a good grocer in Western Canada.”

The Pattison Group empire generates more than $8.4 billion in annual revenues.

Former B.C. premier Glen Clark is the president of the company, and is seen an potential successor. Pattison said there is a succession plan in place but offered no details.

Fast facts on Overwaitea Food Group:

• Where does the name Overwaitea come from? Company founder Robert Campbell Kidd’s practice of selling 18 ounces of tea for the price of 16 ounces–“Over-weight tea.”
• The company introduced “odd penny” pricing to B.C. in 1915, selling four bars of soap for 24 cents or two boxes of Cornflakes for 13 cents. It was common practice then to round out prices to the nearest nickel.
• It was the first B.C. grocer to open a self-serve store: in Duncan in 1950.
• Introduced the bulk-foods buying concept in 1982.
• First B.C. grocer to offer a full-service pharmacy: in Richmond in 1985

Read the full story here.